


Time and Time Again

by Pookaseraph



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Kid Fic, Teen Pregnancy, There is no excuse for this, Time Travel, Umbra is a Butt, Unplanned Pregnancy, World of Ruin, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-05
Packaged: 2018-10-28 10:08:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10829100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: While waiting in Cape Caem, Iris bemoans the lack of time to learn everything she must in the wake of the Fall of Insomnia. She accidentally asks for, and receives, an opportunity to visit the past, crash landing into her father's mission to Altissia thirty years ago. Cor 'the unfairly cute' Leonis finds himself in a whirlwind vacation romance... and Iris returns to her present with an unplanned surprise.





	Time and Time Again

**Author's Note:**

> I... I wrote this, here you go, people.

The warm sun and the gentle breezes on Cape Caem were a far cry from the blazing heat of Lestallum, and Iris soaked up the chill every time the wind whipped along the craggy coast. Things were still settling, Dustin and Monica had done a good job of scraping together the safe house and converting the old building into something habitable. They were most of what remained of the senior Crownsguard, the elite of her father's staff, and it was sometimes difficult to look at them and see how they looked at her in return.

Her brother Gladdy was so busy with his duties to Prince Noctis that he could hardly be expected to organize the shattered remains of the Crownsguard as well. She was an Amicitia, a scion of one of the oldest aristocratic houses of Lucis, and despite the fact that no one said it, Iris was well aware that by most Lucian law, she was the head of the Crownsguard in Gladdy's place while he was gone.

She was fifteen years old, but if she walked into that house and said they were going to eat candy all day until they barfed... they would have probably felt honor bound to do just that. That wasn't the way things were supposed to work.

Eventually she shook her head and returned to the house.

"Lady Iris," Monica greeted her, she nodded.

"Any word from... anyone?"

"Ignis has reported that Prince Noctis's retinue is attempting to gain entry to the Vesperpool area to search out the mithril," she answered. "The Marshal reported he'll be out of contact for some time pursing a lead."

So... nothing. She thanked Monica and headed back out into the sun, circling aimlessly as she worried about everything and felt completely powerless to do anything about it. When she'd been on the road with the guys from Lestallum to Caem, she'd at least felt like she was doing _something_ ; she could fight, she could help, but now she was just expected to wait, again, and fret, again, and she hated it.

She ended up down in the boathouse below the lighthouse, looking at the broken old boat that would eventually take Noct to Altissia so he could marry Lunafreya and all of this would be... something. Iris didn't know what it would be, but she just kept pushing forward, hoping things would work out and trying to keep them going.

A soft woof made her glance down to see Umbra. She didn't know the dog well, although she'd seen him a few times around Noctis and just the palace or the estate from time to time. She knew that he was a Messenger of the Six, he came and went as he pleased. Her father had said that Lunafreya had Messengers and that they helped guide people when they were in need of it.

"Hey, boy," she said. "Um, hope that's alright... treating you like a dog."

He gave her a doggy grin, and so she sat down and the dog jumped up on the well-worn couch of the boathouse and rested his muzzle on her thigh, so Iris scratched his head.

"I don't think we've ever been introduced," she said, continuing to scratch. "I'm Iris Amicitia, and Gladdy's my broth--"

Umbra shook his head, and Iris decided that maybe introducing herself to a divine creature was a little silly so she sighed and eased back in the seat.

"Okay..." She fell silent again. "I bet it sucks being a Messenger," she said, finally, since it was clear now that the dog had some sense of what she was saying. "You just sort of go here and there and you can't _do_ anything, right? I know you carry that notebook between Noct and Lady Lunafreya, but I mean could you help her if she as in trouble? Or him? That would be the worst."

A great, doggy sigh answered her, and Iris decided that was as much of a yes as she was going to get as an answer.

"My... dad died," she said. She didn't think she'd said it out loud since it had happened. "I wanted to be there for the treaty signing, see everything, maybe get to meet Lady Lunafreya to see how pretty she was in person, but dad said no. He said I was going to stay at home and--" She scratched his head again. "And then Dustin came to the house and... he got me and Jared and Talcott out of the city when Niflheim invaded. I hated that, feeling helpless and feeling like I could only go where someone else told me to. I want to help," she said, finally. "I want to help and I don't know how. I can fight, but not _enough_ , I can lead, but not _enough_... it sucks."

Her father had done his best to teach her how to lead, how to have a barring that made people want to follow. The Marshal, Cor, had taught her much of the hand-to-hand she knew before the war heated up a year or so ago and now she saw him rarely at best. She was pretty sure she'd see him more, coming and going from Caem, than she had in the last year before the Fall of Insomnia.

"Everything's going so fast," she said, finally. It hadn't even been two months since the Fall, but already everything was just... horrible. "I wish I could just slow down and... learn. You know?"

Umbra woofed, and then hopped down from her lap. At first Iris thought he was going to head off, just as quickly as he'd arrived, but instead he took a few steps and looked behind him, giving the impression that he wanted to be followed. Iris unfolded her legs from under her and followed after the dog. He tangled through the various crates and boxes that littered the docks, and Iris followed before finally coming to stop just outside of the defunct royal boat.

"It doesn't work," she said. "That's why Noct's in the Vesperpool now, looking to get a part."

A moment later and the dog jumped on the boat's prow. "That's not safe," she said, reaching forward, only to feel like she was swimming... or drowning... she didn't know which, and then she was clawing at the water's surface from under it, gasping as her head broke water and she was out in a bright yellow sun, water lapping at her face and causing her to sputter as she paddled to stay afloat in the rocky surf.

Her hands thudded against the side of something... a boat, she thought, and after a few more clawed moments she felt someone... a hand latch onto her wrist and yank her upwards, and she went tumbling in a pile of arms and legs and landing on top of her rescuer.

It took a moment for her to focus, when she realized she had two hands holding down a firm chest, and wide blue eyes were looking up at hers. He looked... weirdly familiar, but she couldn't place it, with long sideburns and a pencil thin mustache and goatee... but sort of thin, like the guys in High School who were trying to look a little older than they were.

She felt a giggle bubble up in her chest that ended up including coughing salt water on the deck of the boat next to her rescuer and then curling up on her side.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked, voice on the deeper side, and Iris nodded in response. She wasn't _good_ , she was fairly certain she could have drowned, but after a few more sputtery coughs she was pretty sure she wasn't drowning.

"Yeah," she said, finally trusting her voice. "I... I'll be fine," she assured him.

He sat up, and he held out a hand to help her do the same, which she did.

Iris didn't know why, but she flushed. "Hi..."

The boy looked down, and she could see that he was slightly flushed too. "Hi, I'm C--"

A thick towel landed on her shoulders and she looked up to see a young man, Noct's age or so, but with a trim goatee of his own, dressed in an immaculate pinstripe suit.

"Cor, stop flirtin' and start callin' in our arrival, you wet behind the ears--" An amused, and gravely voice yelled from the front of the boat. He sounded like hard smoking and hard drinking, and when Iris scrambled to her feet as the boy did as well she realized exactly who the older man was.

He'd lost a few inches in his older age, and his hair was a good bit grayer, but the rest of him was pure Cid... old and crotchety even though he couldn't have been much older than his forties.

She glanced around, still confused, still trying to place where on Eos she could possibly be. The man who'd given her the towel placed a careful hand on her elbow and led her to sit in one of the seats towards the back of the boat. "Alright there?" he asked.

Iris nodded up in to bright hazel eyes, still confused.

"Might have a concussion," another voice offered. Iris's head shot towards the voice. A young man, maybe a bit older than Gladdy, was sitting with his hands crossed over his chest.

He had well-muscled arms covered in full sleeve tattoos that Iris would have recognized anywhere. Those were her brother's tattoos, or at least a good bit like them, but in truth the full sleeves on her brother's arms were something of a family tradition... those weren't Gladdy's tattoos so much as they were _Amicitia_ tattoos. The resemblance wasn't uncanny, at least, but she recognized her father's strong jaw and prematurely graying hair more than she did anything else about the mess she'd been thrown into.

"Do you know where you are?" Not-Noct asked.

"I'm not.... sure..." She looked around, trying to get her barrings, before she finally saw it in the distance, the Caem Lighthouse disappearing over the horizon. She looked around again, took in the details of the boat... this was _the_ boat, the one Umbra had jumped on just a few moments ago.

As soon as she realized that, she saw the dog as well, dorky, happy, doggy smile looking up at her from the center of the boat where no one else seemed to be able to see him.

"I... this is Lucis, right? Caem?"

"Damn, she got clocked," her father said. "You know the year?" he asked, looking at her. "The date?"

"Ye--" She closed her eyes, feeling her head swim. King Regis, her father, Cid, and Cor heading away from Caem by boat. She tried to think. History lessons... _Prince_ Regis, her father, and other retainers attempted to rekindle the Lucis-Accordo alliance to fight Niflheim in... "725..." She struggled again... "Au-gust... seventh?"

A sigh of relief came from her father. "It's the eighth," he said. "Sounds like you weren't out of it for long."

"Still missing a day," Prince Regis said. "Perhaps we should see her back to Lucis?"

"No time," her father answered. "We were lucky enough to get out of Caem the first time. What are we going to do? Head back into Insomnia while the Niffs are buzzing around?"

"Your Highness, she could be a security issue," Cor said, apparently having returned from whatever Cid had called him to do.

Iris almost looked up at the man in betrayal, she was _not_ a security issue! But when she looked over to explain this to her father, she could see that he and the Prince seemed to be looking at each other and struggling not to laugh.

Her father cleared his throat, as did the Prince, before turning back to Iris, and then to Cor. "Then I'm certain you'll have no problem seeing to it that she's escorted to a doctor when we reach Accordo... and make certain she's on her feet for good measure."

Cor opened his mouth, and then closed it, before looking at the Prince with a sour expression.

"As you may or may not have gathered," the Prince continued. "My name is Regis Lucis Caelum." He gestured between the other assembled men and introduced them with names Iris was already familiar with Clarus Amicitia, Cid Sophiar, Cor Leonis, and a black man who she didn't know by sight only by vague memories of her father's long ago tales: Weskham Armaugh.

"And you?" Cor asked, when it seemed Regis was unprepared to push.

Well she sure as Six couldn't say her name was Iris! "Um..." She struggled for a name she might actually respond to... Iris Amicitia... Iris Amicitia... "Amy," she sputtered out a moment later. "Amy Umbria," she decided, looking down at the invisible dog who she was pretty sure she was going to be damning for something close to the rest of her life.

*

There were at least seventeen things that Cor absolutely did not like about the current situation.

He had been given strict orders to see the Prince to Accordo, safe, secure, with the minimal amount of fanfare or surprises. Now, he found himself staring at a sopping wet girl, fumbling with a wallet for the entry guards at the Accordo gates. At least he was fairly certain her name wasn't a lie. She'd been able to produce identification that was enough for border patrol, but that still left the possibility they were incompetent.

Despite the fact that she had toweled off, Cor was struggling not to compare her to a drowned kitten, wet and miserable, and it was made even worse when she let out a sneeze that was far too dainty and cute for words. He came up beside her.

"Would you like my jacket?"

"That's ok," she answered, looking up at him again, and Cor found himself noting her huge brown eyes, and the way her bright pink lower lip was struggling not to tremble.

"You're freezing," he protested. "The wind off the cove is only going to get worse."

She relented after that, and Cor shrugged off the thick coat and carefully placed it on her shoulders, tugging it so it would cover most of her body now, and trying not to notice how she all but melted into it.

It made him think of things that the older soldiers said when they either didn't notice he was around or decided that fifteen was old enough to hear what they were saying. 'There's nothing hotter than a girl in nothing but your clothes'. There were cruder variations than that, of course, but Cor couldn't deny that Amy looked cute on her own, and even more so when she was wrapped up in his jacket.

The Prince and his retainers formed up inside the city immigration gates, and Amy took her leave to stand far enough away to allow the five of them privacy as they discussed their next steps.

"Cid, take a look at the boat, you said you didn't like the way the rudder was behaving," the Prince ordered, Cid nodded. Weskham was ordered to see to the local color, checking for any tips or information about Imperial movements. "Clarus and I are going to see about an audience with the First Secretary and the Parliament."

Cor nodded, noting that his place would be there, in all likelihood.

"Cor, take Amy to a doctor."

"Your Highness, I--"

He held up a hand. "Nothing is going to happen on the political front for some days at least. See to it that she's not concussed, help her book a ferry back to Lucis or wherever else she needs. I realize it's difficult, but I'm ordering you to be a fifteen year old boy for a few hours. Do you think you can handle it?"

Cor made an annoyed face at the Prince. This wasn't new behavior from him, the four of them always seemed to find it amusing whenever he found himself subjected to... girls. He wasn't a kid, but he generally didn't make time for a private life, he'd been in the Crownsguard for years and handling taking care of his mother before that. That only meant that when he made an effort the older men found it hilarious.

He wasn't certain how every single one of them had seemed to realize that _Amy_ was the one to give him shit about.

"As you command," he answered with a stiff bow.

He arrived at Amy's side a few minutes later, and she started to shrug off his jacket. "You want the jacket back? I bet you have things you need to do."

"I've been ordered to escort you to a doctor," Cor answered.

"Oh..." She shrugged back into the jacket a moment later. "Alright. Um... I could manage on my own, it's no problem."

"I insist." Really Prince Regis insisted, but he couldn't deny that a small part of him was thanking the Prince for the opportunity to spend some more time with Amy.

Finding a doctor in an entirely foreign city actually ended up being quite difficult. Instead, they ended up quite reasonably at a clothing store where Amy was finally able to discard wet clothing and change into something else. The outfit they had found her in had been mostly dark colors, high boots, there was a touch of army flare to the look, but she changed into the most beautiful sundress Cor thought he'd ever seen, perfectly suited to the sunny, breezy nature of the city he'd found himself in.

With even more skin showing, Cor found himself subjected to thin straps that showed off pale skin of her shoulders, and breasts that had formerly been contained behind three layers of clothing now featured prominently at the collar line of the dress. Her waist had an appealing curve and the hem of the dress flirted dangerously with her upper thigh. If Cor had thought that Amy was cute before, he was terrified how flattering the slight change was.

His own jacket had been returned, slung over one arm so it had the opportunity to dry, and Amy had hooked her arm through his without being asked, pale, freckled skin of her arm pressed tight to his side and his arm. He took a deep breath, he was simply escorting a citizen of Lucis, as ordered by his Prince... nothing special.

"So... Cor."

He glanced over to her. "Yeah?" He wasn't certain why but just the girl saying his name made him flustered.

"You're... kinda young to be guarding a Prince, right?"

"I'm old enough," he protested, feeling the youthful affront that he tried to tamp down on when others questioned it. "I've been in the Crownsguard for two years, I excelled at my training rotations, as well."

"Oh..." She seemed surprised for a moment. "I didn't know."

Of course she didn't know, she didn't know Cor, but he found himself caring if Amy thought he was competent. Usually he didn't mind the occasional doubter but the idea she might have thought he wasn't suited stung.

"That's really amazing, actually. Makes plain old boring school seem pretty ordinary."

He felt a moment of pride at that, before he reeled it in. "Are you in school still?" He was pretty sure she was about his age, a year older or younger at the most, so fifteen or so.

"Not right now," she said. "I... was looking into engineering, maybe?"

"Gap year?"

"My... um..." She looked down at her hands. "My dad died recently so I'm sort of figuring life out."

"I'm sorry," he answered, reflexively. Amy looked up at him, and her eyes were definitely a little wet, but she nodded and smiled, putting on a good show even if she was definitely hurting. "I lost my mom recently, too."

After a moment of second guessing, he put an arm over her shoulder, and she answered by sliding both her hands around his waist and holding on tight for a long moment, using his body to shield herself from the world for one brief moment, and Cor didn't quite know what to do so he just hugged her a bit, and brushed his hands over her hair, trying not to notice how soft it was.

"It'll be fine," she said, pulling away, and she left her arm at his waist and he left his at her shoulder, and they continued their quest to find a doctor.

"You'll do fine," Cor assured her. "You just... seem like you'll make it happen, anything you wanted."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he answered. "You learn it in the military," he continued. "Sometimes a man... or a woman... no matter how big a rank you give them, they're not going to be a good leader. The people around him do their best, but..." Cor shrugged. "I'm thankful that my King and Prince are good leaders. Clarus too. You're like that... magnetic."

Amy looked away, flushing, and she took her free hand to bury her face for a moment and Cor wasn't certain if he was proud or worried about how embarrassed she seemed. "No one would follow me anywhere."

"I'm following you."

"Because your Prince told you to!" Amy protested.

"Because my Prince is a meddling doofus," Cor said, feeling a bit of a traitor when he said it, but he could tell that Amy took it in the tone he'd meant it in.

"Oh!" Amy stopped.

Cor stopped.

"A clinic!" They'd almost walked right by it. "Better get my head checked... maybe you should too if you think you should be following me."

He smiled at her. 'Be a fifteen year old for a few hours', the Prince had said. "Anywhere you ask."

She flushed again, and disappeared to the sign in desk, and Cor waited as she was ushered away a few minutes later and he took in the waiting room, inspected his fingernails - they were clean - fluffed his hair a touch, and straightened the jacket in his arms to leave it to dry more.

Amy returned an hour or so later. "Brain's fine," she assured him. "My wallet, however, is unhappy now. I'll have to pick up an odd job or two before I can think about getting out of here."

"I'm sure we can--"

She held up a hand. "I got it, Cor. Clearly... the answer is gambling."

He laughed. "That sounds like a terrible idea."

"I thought you were following me," Amy answered, laughing.

"Regretting it by the second."

"Supposedly they give you free medals at the Totomostro arena... which you can exchange for gil. It's getting on to evening, I need to find somewhere to bed down for the night, and somehow to pay for it."

It was an incredibly stupid idea, but a gondola ride later, Cor found himself in a small Totomostro booth with Amy, and she proved to be something of a gambling savant... or something. She proved incredibly enthusiastic at cheering on her chosen fighter.

"You could... um..." He looked down at the dusty field where the arena's competitors were changing out. "You could stay at my place. I'll sleep on the floor."

Amy glanced over at him, and Cor was not an idiot, he definitely saw the glint in Amy's eyes. "What if I don't want you to sleep on the floor?"

Cor didn't remember anything about the next seven bouts other than that Amy's lips tasted like cherry lip gloss and her hair was feathery soft and that she made a really cute sound when he brushed his thumbs against her nipples through the cloth of her dress.

He was fairly certain he was still half-hard when he arrived at the Leville and reported to the royal suite to make his report.

"Is she concussed?" Regis asked.

"No, sir."

"Is she in your room right now?"

"Uh... yes... sir?"

"Take tomorrow off," Regis answered, smiling a stupid, knowing smile.

"But... I..." He was supposed to protect Regis... but... Amy...

"Dismissed."

He fled back to his room.

*

Iris stood in the modest hotel room of the Leville, it was plain, and Iris noted a single suitcase that had been placed at the foot of the double bed. It had no markings to identify it, but Iris doubted it belonged to anyone other than the boy who'd brought her here: Cor - the unfairly cute - Leonis. Iris wouldn't lie to herself and say that she hadn't occasionally nursed a crush on the Cor who had been a frequent visitor to her house in her youth, but he had nothing on the adorable, fresh-faced boy who had shepherded her around Altissia all day.

It was as though the universe that had taken everything that was unfairly hot about the sorts of military men Gladdy worked with and everything sweet about high school boys, and shoved it all into one really, really cute package. And then the cute package flirted with her, and ran his hand over her shoulder, and she was getting a little bothered just thinking about it again.

She was pretty sure she'd started it innocently enough, patting his hand to point at one of the Totomostro competitors she was thinking of betting on, and a playful punch at his shoulder when she'd subsequently won. But then he'd smiled at her like, 'good job, Iris!' and then he hadn't stopped looking at her and then she'd turned away before she did something really unforgivably bold.

In the end, she was inclined to blame Cor, though, because _he_ offered her a bed.

The door opened suddenly and she glanced up to where Cor was now, looking a bit winded, and then he looked at her. "Hi."

"Hey," she answered, smiling now, noticing that his pants were still slightly tented from earlier.

"We don't have to--"

She cut him off with a kiss, and Cor answered with a needy groan.

"I've never--"

"Me neither--" she confessed, even as she shoved his jacket off of his broad shoulders. "We'll figure it out."

She wasn't naive about what was supposed to happen, she'd seen pictures and diagrams and more than a few bits of porn. She had a slutty older brother, too... and girl friends.

Despite their mutual boldness, they were both awkward when clothes started to come off, Iris shied away a little bit from displaying herself fully, and Cor seemed flustered about the idea that his body - especially his penis - was not entirely under his control.

Iris finally broke the stalemate with a little shove and she began to kiss and suck at Cor's dick as the man bit his wrist to keep from moaning too hard. It was over fast, with Iris barely starting to enjoy the way she could swallow Cor just far enough to have his head at the back of her throat before she had to pull back before Cor was trying to pull her away, and ended up spilling his seed all over her mouth, which only made her lick her lips and want more chances to suck his dick.

"Six, that was amazing," he said, looking up at her like she was one of the Six herself.

Cor was more hesitant when he took his own turn, first tugging down her panties and aimlessly rubbing at her opening. It took him a little while to start to focus on her clit, and then to push fingers into her and stretch her a little bit more. He teased her mercilessly, although Iris didn't think he knew that's what he was doing, and Iris was wet and whining before he finally brought his lips down to her entrance.

Iris felt like he touched her for hours, licking, spearing her deep with his tongue or his fingers, drawing back, doing it again and again as she whimpered and whispered his name over and over again. She had at least two orgasms like that... two and a half maybe, just moments where she couldn't even think because of how much her body was trembling and spent.

He finally decided he was finished with her torture some time later, and he was looking down at her with the most adorable mix of smugness and pride.

"You earned that," she said, and he smiled even brighter.

She glanced down to see he was hard again, kneeling between her spread legs, his hands brushing across her hips as he took in the view.

"You can go in me," she said, encouraged, wanting to reach out and touch him again.

"I don't have condoms."

"Pull out?" she said, because she didn't care if that wasn't that safe she just really wanted that dick in her and she wanted to see Cor look smug when he fucked her and made her scream more.

Cor apparently was on the same page, because he took her hip and pulled her up and he entered her slowly but soon lost himself in the slide, thrusting in and out of her and it was somehow even better than his mouth. She whined when he finally pulled out and shot on her belly.

"More?" she begged.

He put his fingers back in her and fucked her like that until she finished again, clawing at his back and panting his name.

They both rested after that, panting and sticky and gross and it was _amazing_ and Iris wanted to have sex all the time now. "Wow..." Cor said. "You... taste great, and you make the cutest noises."

"Cute?" she asked.

"Sexy?" he answered. "I don't know, it was... awesome."

She giggled and pulled him down to kiss him, the two of them tasting each other on their lips and she rolled him over onto his back and looked down at him. "Definitely."

"I... have tomorrow off?" he said, voice hopeful.

"I'm sure we can think of something."

The weeks that followed were a strange blur that clipped along with deliberate ease. She felt oddly busy.

Some days she did various day labor at a local dress shop, mostly just sweeping up and stocking. More days she found herself invited with Cor to sit in on the politics going on around them. She sat next to Cor through a closed session of Parliament as Prince Regis openly plead for the return of Accordo to the alliance against Niflheim.

She sat through nights out at various clubs as the men she knew only as distant paternal figures - Regis and her father - tried to figure out how to turn the tide of the war and the alliance. After some encouraging she even managed to slide herself in to some of the guys' training. It reminded her of the weeks on the go with Gladdy and the guys, only they didn't cut her out as much.

Iris even got to do the unimaginable: have a fistfight with her dad. She got her ass absolutely handed to her. Cor laughed about it as she sulked afterwards and even kissed her nose as she sulked even harder.

"You're amazing, Amy, but he's the King's Shield."

"I should be that good," she said, because there wasn't any excuse why she couldn't be. The same Shield blood ran in her.

"Well... as Clarus delights in telling me: we're all only mortal," he said. Iris giggled at that advice coming from a man who would later be nicknamed The Immortal. "Practice... and maybe a polearm or a sword. You lose a foot of reach, it's a wonder he didn't beat you worse. Who trained you?"

Iris swallowed down a lie. Cor had taught her all the basics. "A friend of my dad's."

"Lucian army?" Cor guessed. Probably not really a guess.

"Yeah."

"... Galahd?"

Iris squeezed her eyes and looked away. That was a good guess, the last Lucian military cluster fuck before the envoy attempt.

"I was there," Cor said, finally, and he reached out to hook an arm over hers and she hugged him tight. "It was... a shitshow."

"I heard," Iris answered. "It's not your fault," she said. "It's not mine, not anyone's..."

"Niffs."

"Yeah..." She sighed thinking about how Noct would be heading to Altissia soon himself, trying to get things in order... "Someday it'll work."

"Someday indeed. Hopefully the Prince can smile a little harder and we'll send them packing."

"Hopefully." She smiled and nodded. Maybe next time...

"I... there was word from the front," he said, and Iris straightened. "King Mors is calling us back to Lucis..."

Iris gasped, she hadn't even noticed it had been that long. The war wouldn't boil over until again until late October... "When?"

"Day after tomorrow."

"Oh."

"I..." Cor cleared his throat. "I... don't have anything to offer. I'll be on the front as soon as things heat up. I might live, I might not, Niffs might turn tail, they might not..."

Iris nodded. That was the way it would be. Cor would live... at least he had... but... "I can't..."

Cor didn't answer.

"I've been avoiding my own responsibilities for long enough." Iris didn't know how, or when, but she knew that Umbra would have to take her back eventually. She saw him out of the corner of her eye now and again, and she never shooed him but she never beckoned him over, and he'd always disappeared soon after he arrived...

"I know what you mean," he answered, and he gave her a fond smile.

"Think of me sometimes?" she asked.

He nodded. "I... I think I knew what you'd say." He sighed, and pulled out a pendant, it was fairly complex, looking something like one of the thousands of fountains that covered Altissia, proud winged Messengers - human ones - adorning the front. "So you remember our time together."

She held out her hands and took it, realizing after a few moments it was a clock as well.

"It's broken," she said, looking down at the unmoving hands.

"I could say something romantic about time standing still... or I could admit that Crownsguard salary isn't generous enough to buy a fancy watch at Altissian prices. There's no timepiece in it."

"We'll go with the romantic one," she said. "What time is it?"

Cor pulled out his pocket watch. "Ten nineteen."

With or without mechanism, she was still able to set the hands. "Ten nineteen... September Twelve... 725..." She pressed the dial back in place, locking the time. "Good enough. I should... probably go soon as well..."

She felt like she'd... grown. Maybe that wasn't quite it, maybe it was just the chance to spread her wings a bit, feel like she was allowed to be dumb and stupid and kiss a cute boy just because, fistfight her dad just because...

"Not tonight," Cor said, half question, half hope.

"Not tonight," she agreed. His lips met hers halfway.

*

"Where's Weskham?" Cor asked as he dropped his luggage on the boat.

Cid was there, motor to the boat purring; Regis was there, looking stormy but mostly fine; Clarus looked like someone had kicked his dog.

"He's decided to stay and continue the attempt at diplomatic relations," Regis said, a slight clip in his voice that wasn't upset but also wasn't particularly happy.

"Camelia?" Cor asked.

Regis nodded. "Now the other question... where's Amy?"

Cor felt his mouth harden slightly at the question. "She's heading home."

"Did you ask her to come back with you?" Regis asked.

"I told her the truth: the war was going to heat up, I didn't know if I'd make it back... and we wished each other the best."

Regis opened his mouth, looking shocked.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness, but that was my choice... and hers."

"Come on, Reggie," Cid said. "Can't all be like you and Aulea, sometimes romance is at its best when it's over before the world crunches it down."

"Now I know why you aren't married," Regis answered, and he shook his head but he shrugged. "Like you said, your choice, Cor."

It was strange, how time passed and how memory faded, and how Cor knew with absolute certainly how amazing it was to see a woman in nothing but your shirt and a promise on her lips.

He missed her sometimes, missed the easy smiles, missed the simplicity of a vacation romance...

He'd been hung up on her for a few years, he knew that, but after the Wall was shrunk to the ramparts and his place in the Crownsguard was solidified, he found a place for an adult life and women that came and went. He sometimes thought of Amy when he wasn't with someone else, she'd been an absolute monster in bed, and even a twenty-something could appreciate that.

The world changed... everything changed, the world moved on, Cid stayed out of the city, Clarus met Jasmine and they had a whirlwind courtship and a son born six months after the wedding, Aulea and Regis married... Moris passed...

Time moved on.

He wasn't certain he'd even thought of Amy in years when he walked into the courtyard of the Amicitia Manor and his breath caught and he felt as though he'd seen a ghost.

A few moments later, Clarus came to stand beside him. "Iris decided to cut her hair."

Gone was the long, wavy brown hair she'd been growing out for years, and in its place was a teenager with hair cropped short, just a touch of feathery lift to the edges, showing off a fine jaw and delicate ears.

"The resemblance was a bit disconcerting for me," Clarus continued. "I remember her hair more than anything else, I think."

The truth was that a vivid snapshot of memory was gone, which made it worse when every fuzzy detail matched: the feathery hair, the chestnut eyes, the fine jaw and nose, the slightly pouty lips. Cor had never noticed, he'd honestly never begun to _think_ about looking at Clarus's daughter in those terms, and yet his mind cataloged the similarities and he felt himself scrambling to find _some_ difference that a hazy memory could cling to.

"I barely remember the details," he admitted. It felt strange to say, to admit that he didn't quite remember what the first woman he'd made love to looked like... it had been almost thirty years, she was an idealized fling that nuzzled in the back of his mind when he was lonely. "I understand if you don't want me to... continue to train her."

"You've never given me a reason to question your integrity," Clarus said.

"I don't intend to, Sir." Whether that meant he would stop training her, he didn't know. He was there already, he could hardly turn around and leave when she gave him a welcoming wave.

That evening, after he'd gone home to his apartment, he searched through ancient belongings that hadn't seen the light of day in years. Amy had always been... weird about having her picture taken, it was rare for her to appear in anything more prominent than profile, but Cor did have a particularly accurate drawing of a time he'd managed to convince her to sit for a street artist.

It was assuring to catalog the differences: Amy's hair was longer, her jaw a bit finer, but her skin was just as pale and her eyes just as wide and bright... that evening she visited him in his dreams and rode him hard as he ran firm hands against her breasts and belly and he woke to sticky boxers and a sick, black feeling in his stomach.

He went to Clarus the next morning, the man looking over something in his office.

"Sir?"

Clarus nodded.

"I think it would be best if you had someone else continue your daughter's hand to hand combat training," he said, as though he was talking about something entirely unimportant. "I'd be happy to present you with a few suitable options from the more practiced ranks."

"Thank you," Clarus said, before he gestured to the seat across from him. "I hardly remember Amy as anything but... your girl," Clarus continued. "And that Regis and I enjoyed getting to see the less serious side of the boy you once were."

"For me she's... a fond memory, simple times. I like to think she met someone steady and has a good life with him." He felt as though he needed to say something else, something more. "I realize... your daughter is not Amy, there's no confusion there... but I would like to keep the distinction... sharp. Your daughter... I'm certain you've noticed she has a crush on me."

Clarus shut his eyes and nodded. Iris was not subtle, it was a part of what made her sweet and endearing, but it also meant...

"I'm certain it went without saying that I never considered..."

"Girls get crushes," Clarus answered, he nodded. "She has a crush on the Prince... and her history teacher too."

"I was aware of the Prince," Cor answered with a smile. "My point is... I've spent three decades earning your trust, and I don't intend to waste or discard it. I've also spent three decades with... a relatively sweet memory of a vacation in Altissia before it went horribly wrong. I would like to keep both of these things."

"Thank you, Cor," Clarus said, and then he smiled. "I'm certain she... has a good life somewhere uncomplicated."

"Is that strange that that's an old man's fantasy?"

"Not at all. Get me that list," Clarus said. "I don't want to leave her training by the wayside."

"Absolutely, Sir." Cor nodded, and left, and the two of them never spoke of it again.

Gladio asked about it once, just in passing, mentioned that he was curious why his father had changed tutors. Cor had said something about smaller frames and the war heating up and it was true enough, Cor had more and more on his plate as Niflheim made advances and he was forced to meet them in the field more often.

He ran into Iris now and again at the Citadel, but it hurt far less the second or third time. Perhaps the visual similarities were striking, but there was also just the fact that Iris was a young girl. Amy had been, too, of course, but the distinction was easier to keep when they intersected only once in a while.

When they met they were 'Marshal' and 'Lady Iris' and even though she sometimes smiled at him too bright and he found himself reflexively smiling back... he never shamed himself by blurring that line. He didn't take pride in it, that was just common decency, but sometimes he allowed himself the comfort of knowing he was not a terrible human being, only a human one.

*

Iris blinked into the warm sun, and felt the gentle breeze off the Cape as she stood at the dock in the boathouse under the Caem Lighthouse. At her ankles, Umbra woofed, and she wasn't certain how she was feeling about the dog right then. Her fingers cut into her palm, her hand clenched tight around a decorative watch-locket.

She'd changed back into her hoodie and boots, donated all of her clothing to a second-hand store, and she was mostly pleased that Umbra hadn't dropped her back into the ocean, instead allowing her to return to the place she was pretty sure she'd left six weeks earlier.

"You're a butt," she told the dog. "But... thanks, I think..."

When she turned around to look towards the elevator, she felt an awkward absence before turning back and noting that the dog was gone. She took the elevator up to the surface and then headed towards the safe house.

Talcott was playing solitaire, and Monica and Dustin were discussing... something.

"Any word?" she asked the two of them.

"Are you feeling alright?" Monica asked, she stepped over to her and pressed a hand to her forehead.

"I'm fine," Iris protested, stepping away.

"You asked that just a half-hour ago," Monica told her. "Maybe take a nap, you don't want to push yourself too hard."

Half... hour? She frowned, trying to think back to Caem, what had happened before she left and she remembered coming to ask Monica if there was any news. So, nothing, she'd been gone for six weeks and the boat was still broken, the safe house was still there, everything was the same. She glanced at the wall calendar... it was the same sunny day in July it had been when she'd left.

"Just antsy," Iris assured her. "Hey, um... has there been any more word from the Capital?"

That, it seemed, there was an answer, or at least Dustin and Monica glanced to each other with that parental way of saying 'should we tell the baby' and Iris might have grumbled silently in the past, but instead she fixed a level gaze at the pair.

"Come on," she said, not whining, because that never seemed to work. "Lay it on me, decisions have to be made, right?"

She sat patiently through the reports that were coming in from Insomnia, she judged and gauged and tried to think of it in military terms and not just 'all those people!!!' It wasn't the same as looking at the Western reaches and listening to Regis and Clarus argue back and forth, but it was... something.

"So there actually hasn't been much work to reinforce the position there?" she asked, more to clarify what she'd heard.

"No, it seems like the Emperor's main objective was the capture and retrieval of the Crystal. The citizenry has remained largely unmolested, but the checkpoints on the outer bridge remain in place."

"My understanding is my father's last orders were to see to the evacuation of the citizens, right?"

"Yes, Lady Iris," Dustin answered, and she heard him prepare to argue, maybe to tell her that whatever she was planning or thinking about was unwise, so she held up a hand.

"More waiting game, then," she said. "Let me know if there's any change. Even if Noctis is able to retrieve the Crystal, retaking Lucis will take years... if people want to stay we can't force them to leave, but some of them might be under the mistaken impression we have the military force prepared to retake the city."

It was still _nothing_ , but for the first time in months, Iris felt like she was doing something.

"Of course," Monica answered.

She felt as though she was idling, so she busied herself with the little garden out back, and with the memory of... thirty years ago...? she managed to trade for a lean blade, trying to remember exactly how her father or Gladio or Cor or even Noct moved while wielding a blade.

"More reach," she told herself... although she knew she could punch an MT to death with her bare hands, it couldn't hurt to have options.

She had three days to regain her footing before Cor returned from whatever he'd been busy with. He'd taken one look at her and Iris and had frowned: "Don't over-commit with the swing, stay centered, the blade throws you farther than the fist."

Iris wasn't entirely certain if she wanted to punch him, yell at him, or fuck him... and it was really, really weird. "Sure."

He said nothing else, but he did watch her for a moment.

"Are you alright?" she asked, when she looked she could see he seemed to have split his lip, and now that she was looking closer his jacket had a cut in it as well, recently patched.

Cor seemed to startle for a brief moment. "I'm fine. No new intelligence." He then turned away from her and headed into the safe house.

She growled her frustration and headed into the house after him, not because of him... ok, yes, because of him... but also because he must have learned something since the last time he'd been at the safe house.

"King Noctis has been able to retrieve the mithril," Monica reported as soon as Iris entered. "They're heading to Lestallum to get it processed."

"Any word from Gladdy?" She knew her brother had headed off on his own for a bit, whereabouts unknown, so she couldn't deny she was still a bit worried for him.

"He called," Cor said. "He's fine."

"We've heard rumors of a military withdrawal from Insomnia," Dustin added.

"Trap," Cor concluded.

"Not necessarily," Iris protested, but she leaned in on her elbows, chin in her hands as she looked at the map that was perpetually spread over the table. "It's not like the Empire doesn't know what we know: Noct is attempting to awaken the Astrals, he spoke to Titan and Ramuh and so that leaves Leviathan as the only one of the Six still living. If there's a trap anywhere, it's Altissia, it's Imperial territory, they know Noct has to go there eventually... boom."

"Ignis did report that the Imperial Chancellor seemed remarkably well-informed of Noctis's movements while also... expediting their mission," Monica answered.

"Cause that's not suspicious," Iris grumbled. "I think we need to take the opportunity to offer a second wave of evacuation for the citizens of Insomnia," she said. "The city is huge, and there's only one major bridge out of Cavaugh. If... _when_ the Empire chooses to fortify it properly, there's no way we'll get anyone else out."

"I don't like it," Dustin continued. Monica also shook her head.

Iris glanced to Cor, he didn't seem to have much by way of a readable expression, but she was confused to see his lips quirk just so... that was the look he always had when he was considering something, usually that she'd suggested, and was going to say 'that's dumb as hell, ah, fuck it' and do it anyway.

"There are a few ways we might be able to limit the exposure of the Crownsguard-Hunter force that would need to be involved," Cor said, finally.

Iris almost grinned, there was the 'ah, fuck it'. "You have a suggestion, Marshal?" she asked.

They discussed strategy for several hours, most of it over Iris's head, but she did her best to follow the discussions as they went over the potential use of the old canals beneath the city, certain parts of the suburbs that had better ability to reach the bridge out of Cavaugh, that sort of thing.

"Thanks for backing me up," she told Cor when Monica and Dustin had headed off. She still couldn't look him in the eyes, she was terrified of what she would see... or wouldn't... so she focused on the map.

"Evacuation was your father's last order," Cor said, voice hard. "And you're right this is likely the only chance we'll get at lightened defenses. You seem... different," Cor continued after a moment. "If you're doing this just because you think it's your duty--"

"It is," she cut Cor off. "Gladdy has his duties, that's to be at Noct's side... so I have to pick up the slack for the rest of Lucis."

This wasn't some Altissian holiday, she reminded herself, this was... life, and it was going to suck before it got any better.

"I want to be involved with the strike," she said, still not looking Cor in the face. "I understand I'm not at my brother's level, but I want to be there."

"You won't be in the way," Cor said. "I'll call Dave and some of the other Hunters, you should be ready to leave as soon as possible."

Cor turned and walked away, and Iris turned to watch him go, remembering just a week ago when she was walking with him, his arm thrown over her shoulder as they wandered through the streets and he bought her an ice cream and then licked the taste of it off her lips.

He wasn't her doofusy not-boyfriend... and she squeezed her eyes closed and for the first time in four days she cried about how much she missed something she was never supposed to have been a part of.

*

Night fell.

Darkness swept over the world, swallowing everything, what little dusk remained was used to scramble to bring order to the coming tides of chaos and Cor was busy every minute of every day for what must have been months.

With no dawn and no dusk it was almost impossible to get a track of days, but a rough tracking of the various satellites they could contact told him it had been almost three months since he had seen Noctis on his way to Altissia... two and a half since the destruction of Altissia at the hands of Leviathan and the Empire, and almost two since dark had begun to engulf the entire world.

It was hard on everyone.

Ignis was still learning to be blind, still fumbling between self-assigned duties and trying to gather a place for himself. Talcott had taken over as his eyes, but it wasn't an assignment that could last. Gladio had taken the loss of his King hard... as should any Shield, and he threw himself into the task of keeping the dark from shattering every last inch of the land. He gathered food and fowl from the countryside before it rotted in the soil. Prompto had retreated into himself, a miserable ball not quite able to help but pushing ever forward even though he couldn't force himself to be the same.

Despite their troubles, it was Iris who concerned him the most. Unlike Ignis she had never organized or led, unlike Gladio she had never fought in battle... and yet she did all of those things, pushed herself to not just meet their level but push past it. He didn't know how to tell her to stop...

Every minute she could, she demanded training, demanded to be pushed and tested, and Cor felt as though he was watching someone jam as much life as possible into as small a time as she could and he didn't quite know how to handle that. A soldier who hit that limit... they were lucky if dam broke before they got themselves killed.

Years ago he'd looked at her and saw shades of a past lover... now he just saw someone who was pushing too hard, too fast, and he felt powerless to do anything to stop her. There was no happiness there, no carefree joy, and Cor couldn't have been more distressed at how sharp the distinction between Amy and Iris had become in his mind in those months.

"Iris, you can't keep doing this to yourself," he said, finally, reasonably, when she again came to him and asked for training.

"Everything's a mess," she said, and he frowned because of how much he could tell she was hurting.

"I know this isn't comforting... but it'll still be a mess tomorrow," he said, trying to force a smile he actually felt. It would be a mess tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after... all of the days that wouldn't even be days were going to be a mess for months if not years to come... the sooner Iris was able to make peace with that, the less likely she was to get herself killed.

She laughed, a barking laugh, and she rubbed her wrist to her eyes where she was crying as well. "That's super comforting, Cor."

"I... we're all only mortal," he said.

She wasn't laughing any more at that, she made a noise that sounded like a sob and he watched her feet give way just enough that she knelt on the mat of the practice room, holding herself up with her trembling arms, and he knelt to join her.

"You're going to kill yourself," he continued, hard, because he got the feeling that he wasn't getting through. "I don't want to watch you do that to yourself."

She sobbed again, and she grabbed for him, probably would have hugged anyone in that instant. He didn't know who he was for her in that moment, Gladio maybe or Noctis... maybe Clarus... he didn't matter, he pulled her tight and squeezed her close and let her sob out the knots she'd worked herself into over the past months.

"Thanks..." She said, finally, sniffling against him, and despite his better judgement he reached up and touched her hair. It was soft... as expected... but it was also just hair. It was something of a relief to know that this was just Iris, Iris had hair...

He snorted at his stupidity. So what, his best friend's daughter looked like his ex girlfriend, right now his best friend's daughter was killing herself with overwork and he needed to take care of that. "Better?"

She nodded into his chest.

"Up you go."

They were a mess of limbs as he tried to get her back upright, and eventually she was standing. "Right... tomorrow will be a mess, too."

When she said it, Cor could hear that she'd taken comfort in it, not dread, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Um... Cor?" He looked over to her "I..."

He barely caught her before she hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.

It took him far too long to carry the passed out young woman to the nearest medic, and he didn't even feel guilty when he pulled rank to get her seen first. He found himself in the waiting area along with squalling infants and dislocated shoulders and abrasions and sniffles.

"Marshal?" He came to where the doctor was standing.

"Is she alright?" he asked.

"She's exhausted," he answered. "And... um... could you call her brother?"

"Is she alright?" he asked again, voice much harder.

"It's... a matter for family," the doctor answered. "She's in no immediate danger."

Cor didn't like the caveat one bit, but he could hardly deny that he wasn't Iris's family. "I'll call him. 'No immediate danger'?" He confirmed.

The doctor nodded.

Gladio was at the clinic in under ten minutes, and he was back in the exam area not a moment later. Cor, despite his own reservations, headed off after that. He went to check in with Monica and Dustin and Dave before he finally found himself at the small office that Ignis and Talcott had set up for themselves in the bowels of one of the older buildings.

"I still say you should call dibs on a top floor if you're going to run the world," Cor said, trying to force a levity he didn't feel.

"Yes, well I hardly need the natural lighting, do I?" Ignis said a moment later. He could open his right eye now, two and a half months later, but the eye was milky and clouded. The left had been removed to keep it from festering.

"Might be nice, Sir," Talcott said.

"I'll consider it. Was there a problem, Marshal?"

"I..." He didn't really know. He felt like he needed to say something to someone and yet he also couldn't deny that there were few people who he might be able to say things to and it would make sense. "Iris passed out."

"Is she alright?" Talcott asked, immediately concerned. "Lady Iris is my responsibility, Sir."

Cor smiled. "She can take care of herself," Cor assured him, even though he wasn't certain that was true right this minute. "I think she might need an opportunity to feel productive in a way that doesn't involve her running herself ragged."

"I think we've all felt that to some extent," Ignis answered, his eyes downcast even in their blindness. "Evidence would suggest we are in the prophesied days, a time of darkness and struggle while the world awaits the King of Light's return. I think we all feel responsible for seeing those days are... as kind as possible. I know she's pushed herself to fill many roles that she feels were left to her."

"Her father didn't leave an easy place to fill," Cor answered.

Some time later, Gladio entered the dreary office, Prompto just behind him. "Iggy, you got a minute?"

"Of course."

"Uh... Talcott, could you scram?" Gladio asked.

Talcott took the order in stride and nodded, leaving the room without delay. "Me too?" Cor asked.

"Nah, sit tight, Marshal," Gladio sat on one of the stacks of boxes and Prompto came in to close the door. "Iris gave me the ok to... share."

"Is Iris going to be alright?" Cor asked, because he hadn't gotten a straight answer from the doctor and it was still gnawing at his gut.

Gladio nodded. That was at least one weight off his chest. "Doc said she was exhausted, dehydrated, undernourished..." Cor winced, they probably should have noticed sooner. "And about three and a half months pregnant."

"What?" Cor asked, not quite able to contain his shock.

"Pregnant?" Ignis asked, almost as though trying to clarify. "You're certain?"

"Yup. Iris... won't tell me who the father is." Gladio looked upset, and he glanced between Prompto and Ignis. "So I'm asking the obvious question."

"I didn't sleep with her," Prompto answered, perhaps too immediately, but Cor knew the boy had no filter on his mouth so while it might have been the quickfire response, it would be honest.

"Nor did I," Ignis answered.

Gladio turned to him, but Cor got the impression it was more of a formality than any real accusation. "I've never slept with your sister, although I doubt you really thought that was an option."

He shook his head, which Cor was gratified for, but it didn't fix the current predicament. "She says she wasn't..." Gladio flexed his fist. "She says it was..."

"Consensual?" Ignis offered.

Gladio nodded, and then realized Ignis couldn't see and followed up with: "Yeah. So the way I figure it that leaves... Talcott, who I'm not sure his balls have dropped. Dustin--"

"Gay," Cor answered. The assembled group looked at him, shocked for a moment. "I'm his commanding officer, Crownsguard is zero tolerance for harassment on those grounds."

"Huh..." Prompto said before shaking his head. "So I'll guess that's a no."

"... And Noct."

The room was deathly quiet.

"Wasn't he in love with Luna?" Prompto asked, filling the silence.

"He cared for her a great deal," Ignis answered. "But... while I believe Noct would have been happy to marry Lady Lunafreya, he saw it more as a duty than a love match. I don't think it's out of the question that he would have pursued... others."

"Iris has had a crush on him for years," Gladio said. "I mean I threw the guy at her hard enough."

"You think there's a chance she's carrying a Caelum heir," Cor said, saying what they were all thinking.

"It would explain why she's been a little..." Gladio seemed to struggle for a word. "Crazy. He's gone... maybe he'll be back... but we all know the fate that awaits the King of Light according to the prophecy."

No one spoke.

"You're not certain, though," Ignis said. "There's always the possibility she met someone during her time in Lestallum, or perhaps even in Insomnia before the fall."

"Maybe," Gladio said. "I feel like... she'd tell me though. Even if it was just some guy..."

"It still could just be... 'some guy'," Ignis continued.

"'I know it was stupid and foolish, Gladdy, but I'll love it just as much as I loved him'."

Cor bowed his head and shut his eyes, because that was.... "Shit."

Gladio sighed. "Yeah. I mean maybe it's just a guy, but..." He left it unsaid that as far as boys Iris had loved who were gone in the last three months, Noct ranked high on a list of one.

"Well, I suppose for now we'll simply need to do what we would regardless of the father," Ignis said. "We support her... and see to it that she receives better nutritional supplementation."

"No fieldwork," Cor said a moment later. "Technically a woman can stay on active until five months if she requests it, but... post hospitalization I'm going to say no."

"Oh man, we're gonna be Uncles!" Prompto said a moment later, and Cor had to laugh at the fact that Prompto clearly had his priorities either very right, or very wrong.

"I'd try to get her working with animals, but I'm pretty sure that's a terrible idea for pregnant women," Gladio said a moment later.

"She'd been settling in to a good place with the Hunters," Cor said after a few moments. "I think it was likely the news made her... feel the pressures of a collapsed timetable. She can stay active and involved with that aspect while staying out of the fighting."

That agreed, all that remained was to see if Iris would slow down and allow her body and mind the opportunity to calm and heal.

She returned to 'duty', such as it was, four days later.

"Hey," she greeted him, voice soft.

"Lady Iris," he said.

"Can we just do... Iris?" she asked. "I'd like that... you can just call me Iris."

He snorted softly and nodded. "Absolutely, Iris. So... Ignis informed me that we're going to have supply issues on salt in the next month or so, and the Hunters have been given the important task of locating... salt."

"Sounds exciting," Iris said. "So where do we come in?"

"We are raiding the geological survey floors of the Lestallum archives," Cor said. It would have been busy work if the issue wasn't actually headed towards dire. "Ignis packed us snacks."

She snorted. "Snacks..."

Cor nodded.

"Alright..." She nodded. "Sure."

"And remember... the world will still be fucked up tomorrow."

"So encouraging."

He smiled, but at least she smiled back and really that was all he could hope for right then.

*

It took Iris almost two weeks to finally feel like she had her feet under her again. She had to admit she'd been freaked out at the idea of her brother actually knowing she was... pregnant. Even at close to four months in she was having trouble with the idea.

She was _fifteen_... she was one of those specials on the television about dumb teenagers... and every time she thought about how she'd ended up that way she still didn't regret it. Cor... _her_ Cor, had been a breath of fresh air, fun and happiness in the middle of things starting to tumble downhill. Even if the world was horrible, she couldn't regret that something so happy had given her... it.

Gladdy was still treating her like she was made of glass.

Maybe she was... but she felt mostly together.

Cor, not-her-Cor, was in the training room that they had pulled together for the Hunter-Crownsguard. He was wearing no shoes, and didn't have on his customary jacket, or even his usual Crownsguard shirt. He just wore jeans and a well-fitted t-shirt. It was odd to notice how buff he was.

It was the first time she'd really looked at him since she got back. Cor had been strong, but boyish, and the Cor who was slicing through the air with practiced ease before her was broader, stronger, and taller. His face was mostly the same... the furrows in his brow had gone from frowns only to permanent, and the thin mustache was gone but he was mostly... a guy. A hot one, but not hers.

"Hey," she greeted him when he finished the last cut of the form.

"Hello," he answered. "Sleep alright?"

She nodded. Sleep was weird in the constant dark. She always felt like she should be going to bed or it was too early to wake up. She'd been listening to neither urge before, now she managed at least a few hours before she woke up to an aching back or a churning stomach. She'd avoided morning sickness for the most part, which meant she hadn't even realized she was pregnant until she'd missed two periods.

The damning blue lines had greeted her in a Cornix Station bathroom from a hastily purchased test with Cor impatiently waiting for Aranea to airlift them to Niflheim to extract the guys.

"There's a pot of water on if you want tea," he said.

"'Tea'," she echoed.

"Bark leaf slurry piss," he corrected.

"Sounds delicious." She headed over to the kitchen area, Cor following a few steps behind, and she poured a mug of hot water and grabbed a packet of the herbal tea she was allowed to drink.

They traded details back and forth, the state of things in the last hours.

It was nice, the break from the incessant stream of 'how are yous'.

"Blah," she sighed. "I know I'm supposed to be eating more but I feel blah."

Gladdy would have chastised her, Cor just nodded. "I think... Matreus had troubles in the second trimester."

They both avoided mentioning that Sergeant Matreus was dead, as was her daughter.

"Swore by tapioca pudding."

"Bl-laa-aahhhh," Iris made sure Cor heard all three syllables of her disgust.

"Banana?" he suggested. "Ignis said it's sweet and even though you can't get fresh ones now, there's probably some pudding left."

Somehow this led to them in the warehouses of Lestallum with her and Cor crawling over boxes before finally arriving at pudding.

They left a few minutes later, Iris looking at the open cup of pudding with betrayal that there were no spoons before finally just licking the edge of the cup and Cor snorted.

"Thanks..." She said.

"It's pudding."

"I mean for not being weird and pestering me about the father."

"Not my business," Cor answered, and Iris tried to tamp down on the twist of hurt that caused. "Unless you do want to talk."

She shook her head, and Cor added nothing else.

Iris had thought about telling him, about telling him everything, but the more time passed the more the lie of omission seemed safe and more fair to him. Cor had been fifteen years old, just as dumb and horny as Iris had been, and after six weeks of sex with varying attempts at something resembling protection it was hardly a surprise she'd ended up how she had. Cor was an adult now, and she knew he was dealing with almost everything she was and more. It didn't seem fair to demand he take responsibility for the young man he'd been... not after so much time had passed for him.

"He's been squirmy," Iris said, finally.

"He?" Cor asked, a slight rumble to his voice.

"Yeah... it's... really weird." She'd thought about kids from time to time, nothing serious, she had school and life and a lot on her plate. Kids were something that should happen 'later'.

"I can only imagine."

She pressed a hand over her belly. The swell was still only barely there, more a few too many heavy meals than anything that looked like a baby, but he had been getting more and more real by the week. "I keep thinking..."

Iris wasn't certain what she kept thinking.

"I keep wondering if it's the right thing to do... you know? Bringing a kid into all this."

Part of her wanted to hear what Cor thought, she had niggling doubts from time to time, wondering if it would have been a wiser choice to not see a child into darkness with no timeline to end.

"I'm not certain there's ever a good time," Cor said, finally. "I'm not the right person to ask. I never made time for a wife or family."

"Welp... he's making me make time." She stretched, letting her back pop slightly as she did. "Not that that's particularly useful, demons coming out in force and I'm benched."

"It's a waiting game for now, regardless," Cor answered. "We don't have the sort of manpower that would be necessary to do anything but reinforce Lestallum."

She hated it, but he was right, they were stuck on the defensive, gathering, and collecting things to make sure they were prepared for however long the darkness lasted.

"Right..." As Cor had always assured her, things would still be difficult the next day.

The guys were great, at least. Gladdy seemed the most conflicted about the whole thing, which was probably about right. Iris was fairly certain he and the rest of them had decided who the father was... they were wrong, but just as she didn't have the heart to tell Cor, she couldn't imagine telling them even a variation of the truth.

She was seven months along when she finally decided to tell Gladdy... 'the truth'.

"I know what you guys have been thinking," she pressed a hand to her belly, curled up with him on a ratty couch of a run down apartment that housed her, Gladdy, Prompto, and Ignis.

"Hrm?" he answered, running his fingers through her hair and scratching gently.

"That he's Noct's..."

That got his attention, and he sat upright and looked over to her. "And...?"

"He's not," Iris said. "I know you guys would like that... having something of him still around... but he's not."

"Iris..." She could hear the skepticism in his voice. The big brotherly 'I know you're lying', and she wondered if it was even worth debating with him.

"It was this guy I met back... before... just a little whirlwind with a surprise souvenir," she said. That was all true, it had been silly and stupid and fun while it lasted, both of them out of time for a few weeks. "Just... I don't want you guys all pinning your hopes on him..."

Gladio still looked like he was trying to think of what to say, but he eventually looked away. "Alright, look... the way I figure it... he's gonna be an Amicitia first and foremost, right?"

"Damn right!" Iris answered. She could tell Gladdy still didn't believe her, but... at least they couldn't say she didn't tell them.

"I'll... remind the guys of that."

She ended up walking through the open markets of Lestallum... she did that a lot when the baby was kicking up a storm and she couldn't sleep... before she finally ended up on the Overlook, just wondering how everything would ever come together. Two more months and she'd... pop... and then she'd have another person to worry about, even more troubles, and no idea how to handle that one any more than she did the other things in her life.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Iris turned to where Cor was standing. He'd probably seen her circling, near enough to the Hunter facility that she was a common enough sight. "Yeah." She placed a hand over her belly. "You'd think he was ready to come out and face the world swinging."

"Good instincts," Cor said, although he sounded a bit bemused.

"Can't deny that," she answered, looking out over the inky darkness, noting the way bombs or grenades flickered into existence here or there, brightening the distance enough to remind her that they were an ever-present threat. "... Never underestimate an Amicitia..."

Cor leaned on the wall of the overlook, glancing towards her, and he could see the concern in his eyes. He was always concerned, but he never said it. Honestly that was what she appreciated the most, she knew he fretted just as much as the guys, he just did it by wordlessly bringing her pudding or leaving for three days and then returning with news of an achieved military objective that had been bothering her.

It reminded her a tiny bit of Gladdy, because his response to troubles was to stab them in the face, but Cor did that without all the growling and chest beating beforehand. Probably shouldn't have been comparing the father of her child to her brother...

To reiterate the fact, said child decided that was a perfect time to practice a one-two punch on her kidneys, and she winced and shifted in response.

"You weren't kidding," Cor said, and Iris saw that he'd had his eyes on her belly close enough that whatever bop she'd been given was obvious even outside.

"Nope... like I said, he's gonna come out swinging."

He held out his hand for a moment, asking silent permission. All the guys had given her a pat... or ten... Prompto had taken to squatting and waving at her belly like it was a window frame - Gladio assured her that was just Prompto being Prompto - so she gave the usual nod, and felt Cor's hand come to rest on her belly. It was always strange when she could focus on him like that, he always felt so different than she remembered, nothing at all like his younger self.

"You give your mom a break," Cor said, voice pure commander.

Iris laughed. "I don't think that works."

He made her a liar, though... a little punch or kick landed against Cor's palm, and then he settled again, finally quiet. Iris didn't even think about sitting down next to Cor, leaning against his shoulder and closing her eyes.

"My insides can rest easy..."

He chuckled, and gave her belly a gentle rub. "What do you know, that voice works on babies too..."

"Somehow... I doubt it..." She yawned.

"Go to sleep," he said, same commander voice, and she didn't even remember protesting.

She woke much later, curled on her side in one of the Hunter cots, shoes off, but otherwise exactly as she had been.

"You can't do that..." Iris said, pressing a hand to her belly.

The ornery little shit gave her a firm kick as though he could respond.

"Never underestimate an Amicitia, indeed."

*

Cor had only occasionally been one for lying to himself, so in the end he could admit that he'd been counting the days until the arrival of the as-of-yet-unnamed Amicitia Jr. Iris had been due six days ago, four he was called away to a scrap metal salvage op that needed to actually stay in Dark territory for longer than a few hours, and that meant they sent someone like him.

'The Immortal' indeed.

He was back in clean slacks and a t-shirt when Gladio found him and handed over an unlit cigar.

Cor took it, frowning for a moment.

"Congrats, we're Uncles," Gladio said, and Cor smiled down at the cigar for a moment, remembering vaguely the tradition. It was more old-fashioned than he was.

"Iris?" he asked, because his mind hadn't shaken the worry, she was barely sixteen, having a baby was... well women had been doing it for centuries, but she was still young, and childbirth was dangerous without the level of medicine they were accustom to.

"Fine," Gladio assured him, although he supposed the celebratory cigar should have made that obvious.

"How long?"

"Bout two days."

Cor nodded. "Well. I think I'll save this, go pay my respects?"

"She's still at the west clinic... precaution, she'd be out stabbin' something if they'd let her."

"Of course..." He shook his head. He knew she'd be eager to return to the fray, but Cor wasn't certain how to balance the concern he felt and the responsibility to allow her to make her own choices.

Cor wasn't entirely certain how he was handling... everything. The Dark was a lesson and a trial the likes of which he never could have imagined, but the mix of feelings that came with the trial of Iris Amicitia was just as difficult as any he'd faced, just in a different way.

He cared for her. It was as simple and as complicated as that. Part of him would have liked the care to be... paternal, perhaps replacing Clarus as an older influence, but Iris had often stymied his attempts to distance himself like that, taking his advice to heart, but holding him perhaps even less sacred than she did her brother in some respects. It was an odd contraction, he was often able to play on long exaggerated tales of his exploits, his status as The Immortal, and his general bearing to cow most young recruits...

Iris, when he tried to do that, would give him a look that seemed to say 'nice try, Cor', and after a few responses like that he largely gave up trying. Instead she came to him as the man who talk to when she was sick of her brother's fretting, Prompto's fussing, and Ignis's well-meaning checklists. Cor fretted and fussed all the same, he just had far more experience with a light touch on the issue, one that Iris seemed to appreciate.

Many of the walls he'd hastily erected around Iris a few years ago were casually swept away in those months, and he found himself growing closer to a woman who needed help and extra hands and a confidant that was more experienced than three men in their early twenties who didn't know much about babies beyond ridiculous comedy movies.

Cor wasn't much better, but at least a few extra decades had granted him a flare for the controlled panic.

He found himself pointed to the right door of the inpatient area of the clinic, and gave a gentle knock.

"Yup?" Came the fairly chipper response.

He eased open the door. "I've been told you popped."

"Here to survey the wreckage?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear. She had something of a soldier's flare for dark humor of late. Cor wasn't certain it suited her, but at the same time he could hardly deny it was a bit warranted.

He took a moment to assess. She still looked... puffy. Cor hadn't looked into it much, but that would probably head off in a few more days. She was sitting on the small couch in the room, legs folded under her, squishy human blob in both of her arms. "Yeah."

She tilted her head to the seat beside her and Cor took the invitation to sit and look down at the little swaddled bundle in her arms. The first thing Cor noticed was the dark hair, not much of it, but a soft little swirl of deep brown hair that already looked like it was starting to make a mess everywhere. His eyes were closed, at least for the moment, and Cor tilted his head to take in the boy's face. His nose was a squishy little button, his brow a touch pronounced for such a tiny thing... he looked like a baby.

A few moments later, the boy blinked, possibly stirred by the noise or motion, and Cor found himself staring down into unfocused, bright blue eyes.

"Um... hi?" he told the boy, and that earned him a sleepy yawn and a chuckle from Iris.

"Here comes the fussing," she said, and true to her word the boy opened his mouth and started to fuss. He didn't scream, which was actually a delightful surprise, and he didn't exactly wail, but he was certainly making the noises of a rapidly escalating arms conflict. "Could you--?"

She tilted him towards Cor and Cor held out his arms and received a squishy and squirmy pile of kid, which he looked down at and tried to decide if there was any way he was going to get the kid to stop whining, decided that was like trying to stop the tides, and just waited out while Iris stood, put her back to him, and seemed to be fiddling with her shirt.

"Swap." He wordlessly stood and sat down where she had been before, and then handed over the boy when Iris held her arms out.

It seemed in the last day or two she'd become expert at feeding her son while only subjecting her visitors... Prompto, Cor was going to take one guess and say it was Prompto... to too much skin. Cor could just hear the boy now saying something like: 'but tits!' and he actually pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You can head off if you don't want to listen to a whiny baby," Iris said, obviously mistaking the gesture for something else.

Cor shrugged, glancing over to Iris where she seemed to be chewing on something. "So... does Amicitia Junior have a name? Gladio didn't mention."

"Not... yet..." She frowned. "You know I probably had a few months to think about it..."

He chuckled when she did.

"No I mean I... I had an idea. I just... sort of wanted to ask you first."

"Me?" Cor asked. He tried to imagine why Iris might have wanted to pass a name by him for approval. Maybe she was thinking of calling the boy Clarus, or something else suitably maudlin. He supposed he was the only one she had to ask who might have had a clue what her father would have thought...

"Yeah, I was thinking... um... Leo?"

"The constellation," Cor said. Most Caelums had names surrounding the stars and the various--

He blamed his self-reflection for the fact that he didn't even notice that Iris had reached up until he felt the soft impact of a whack on the top of his head.

"Try again, dumbass."

"Me?" he asked, not quite understanding why on Eos she would have chosen to name her son after him.

"I don't know, it was stupid, forget it..." She looked down at her son, and Cor could see that it looked like she might cry.

"No... Iris... I..." He sighed. "It's a surprise, is all... I don't... You don't need to name him after me to twist my arm into being his Uncle, you know." He was finding himself more and more thinking that someone would have to twist his arm to keep him away, and that wasn't something he liked to think about while he had to look himself in the mirror.

"I know," she answered. "I think it sounds good, though: Leo Amicitia."

Cor couldn't deny that it flowed well enough. "It's a good name," he said. "I like it."

"You do?" she asked, and she looked up at him, her eyes searching his, definitely looking for something there, so he looked at her and nodded.

"Absolutely. I'm honored." He was certain there were thousands of more suited people for Iris to name her child after, Clarus among them, but Cor was hardly going to protest long or hard. It was Iris's choice, and he knew he was honored that she felt he was worth that gesture.

Cor sat with her for a good bit longer, discussed the mission some, took Leo when he had decided he was full and held him while he took the opportunity to hunker down and doze again.

Eventually he woke again, and even though he wasn't fussing, Iris shooed Cor, told him she was sure he had better things to do, and he headed out to the Overlook where he found Gladio with an unlit cigar in his own hands.

"Light?" Cor asked. Gladio shrugged.

Cor reached into his pocket. He had never been much for smoking, but one didn't get away with thirty-two years in Crownsguard service without _the_ lighter. He flicked it twice and held it out towards Gladio, who lit his cigar and then waited for Cor to do the same, the two of them leaning out over the Overlook, silent.

"She's decided to name him Leo," Cor said, not really an icebreaker, but he could at least offer that.

Gladio looked over to him, and Cor could catch the speculative question in his eye. Cor shrugged. His conscience was clear on the issue.

"His eyes are so damn blue."

Cor nodded, he'd noticed it too. "Your father did have blue eyes. I thought you said she denied Noct was his father."

"After three months for her to say it was just a guy she met back in Insomnia?" Gladio asked.

Cor had to admit he was skeptical as well, but he wasn't going to gainsay her word even if he did carry his own doubts.

"And 'some guy' still doesn't have a name... and that after she says she wants it to be her kid, and to not have us worry about who the dad is?" Gladio shook his head.

"Maybe it was a fling," Cor said, quite reasonably, he thought. "Maybe she didn't know his name."

That earned him a grab of his shirt as Gladio took righteous indignation at the idea that his sister would have been with a stranger whose name she didn't even know. Cor let him rage himself out, tightening his fist harder, before he released Cor and glowered out over the darkened sky.

"Love is unreasonably simple when you're young," Cor said. He spoke from experience on the issue. "Maybe Leo is Noctis's... she doesn't want us to think of him in those terms, so don't."

"You know it's not that simple..."

"I also know that Noctis is fated to be the last King of Lucis," Cor said. "The King's Shield's duty will end with the Dawn."

"So the way you figure it, Noct's or not, he's not a Prince?"

Cor nodded. "If you want to protect him, do it because he's your nephew, not because you're his Shield."

"And you?" Gladio asked.

Cor glanced over to him. "What about me?"

"My sister named her kid after you. That's sort of... interesting."

"You're welcome to think what you like."

"Wouldn't be the first time you fed me a half-truth to avoid telling me something you didn't want to," Gladio said a few seconds later. "Or to push me where you wanted me to go... I remember sis was just about turning fourteen when you stopping coming around..."

Cor shot Gladio a look that had cowed better men than him. "Do you seriously think I would still be able to father a child if Clarus thought I would do that to his daughter?"

Gladio sighed, and turned away, and it was clear that it was just anger and frustration talking, not any real intent, even if Cor couldn't help but be relieved even as he cursed himself.

"I realize this won't do me any favors..." Cor said, tilting the cigar and looking out over the dark sky. "Your sister... shares a resemblance with a girl I dated when I was a lot younger. Clarus thought it would be awkward for me, it was, I resigned from tutoring her so he wouldn't have any reason to think exactly what you're accusing me of."

"My dad knew this girl?" Gladio asked, and Cor nodded. "It still weird?"

Cor chuckled at the turn, but he supposed just like Gladio's father, he did have more than a fair number of reasons to place trust in Cor. He'd earned it. "Not as much, like any other thing, I built it up in my head more than it was in reality. Maybe it wouldn't have bothered me as much if I'd just kept tutoring her... but it was worth it to know your father didn't have any reason to doubt me. As to telling them apart... let's just say that... your sister is a hell of a lot more complicated than a summer fling."

"I think that's a compliment..." Gladio said, laughing now, too.

Cor smiled.

"Cor the Immortal... and his teenage romance."

Cor shut his eyes and shook his head.

"No, this is good..."

He accepted the good-natured ribbing for what it was, a Gladio styled peace offering for the accusation, and it reminded him just enough of Clarus to make him smile. Things were... well they were terrible, but Iris had cleared the first major hurdle of motherhood, she had plenty of people prepared to see her burdened lessened wherever possible... so Cor enjoyed a cigar and contented himself to worry about the next day whenever the next day came, whether they could see the sun rise and set or not.

*

By the time Leo was four months old, Iris had decided that anyone who had kids and managed to stay relatively together and sane about it only managed it by pure, blind, dumb luck.

She had _five_ guys on relatively reliable call to look after him, and she still managed to catch a full night's sleep approximately never. Her son wasn't even... weird, he just needed to eat and pee and poop and have fingers wiggled in front of him. That wasn't even _hard_.

So she told herself as she worked her way through push-ups with Leo on her back, strapped into the jury rigged baby carrier, face up, as Iris continued her push ups. She could feel him wiggling, probably play with his feet.

"I... am not certain that's a regulation use of baby."

"Handy though," she answered.

Cor chuckled and came to sit down next to the pair of them, and she was fairly certain he was wiggling his fingers over Leo's head, and the boy was grabbing at them. The happy coo noise said the rest.

Twenty-two more push-ups later, Iris made the practiced transition to letting Leo on his stomach and giving him free rein while she headed into crunches.

"How much longer do I need to argue with you?" she asked.

Cor's answer was an annoyed look, but he settled a hand to her ankles, fingers tangled between the two of them, pinning her feet to allow her easier leverage on the crunches. Another hand fishing through her ubiquitous baby bag before pulling out an old jetty's soda bottle filled with tiny, colored pebbles that he shook in Leo's general direction to begin his merry chase.

"By vague Crownsguard-Hunter hierarchy, I'm technically your commanding officer," she continued.

"And you can countermand me at any time," Cor answered. "Technically."

She couldn't deny that she didn't exactly want to just run out in the night, fists swinging, and hope for the best. She wanted Cor or her brother or even Prompto to say that they thought she was ready to get back out there. It seemed so long ago, more than a year, but even Cor's grudging admission that she wouldn't hold back the efforts to reclaim the Insomnia bridge would have sufficed.

"It's fighting the Empire all over again," she said, breathing heavily. "You just leave a tactical objective here and a tactical objective there and then suddenly you don't even have a kingdom anymore, it's covered in Niffs and MTs and demons."

Cor frowned and looked away, and Iris didn't even feel guilty for playing dirty.

"I've talked to Dave."

"About how dumb it is that we have to throw lives away to reclaim a... an old souvenir emporium every three months?" The souvenir emporium was their best staging ground to get pure water out of the deeper moving currents of the cleaner rivers when the rain came down black with Starscourge...

"Dumb," Cor answered. "But I hope you realize that one more person out in the field isn't going to change our martial capabilities far."

"You send Gladdy or Prompto to take on entire demon armies by themselves."

Cor frowned, and Iris watched as the obvious 'and you aren't your brother, or Prompto' flitted across his face. "I don't go easy on either of them."

"Then don't go easy on me."

He looked at her, and Iris could see his brain working through whatever was going on in there before he finally nodded. "You better give me a run for my money."

She stretched after finishing her crunches, and then took a bit to feed Leo and make sure he was comfortable in the strung up baby bouncy... thing that was present in the corner of the training room.

Iris wasn't certain if she should be concerned, but Leo had become quickly inured to the sound of fists on punching bags and metal on metal, and she saw his gaze follow her trail across the room and cooed when she waved.

Cor joined her a few moments later, sword resting in one hand. Weeks ago he'd asked her if she really wanted Leo to watch her fight... she didn't know if it was the right call, but she knew that there was no way she could afford to pretend that Leo wouldn't know what she did... what they all did, to keep the worst ravages of the Dark at bay.

He didn't question her now, and Iris picked up the sword she had come to use. It wasn't quite a part of her arms yet, not the way her fists had been, but letting a demon get in close was a recipe to lose your life... Iris drew her sword, and held it in a comfortable grip as she watched Cor.

She knew from her own experience fighting him in her youth, as well as Gladio's occasional mentions, that Cor was able to make an impressive defense with a sheathed blade, and Six help you when he wanted to take the offensive. He stood, relaxed, blade in one hand at his side, as though he had no intention of even fighting her.

Iris frowned, but a few moments later she took a deep breath and took her offensive. This wasn't a spar, not really, there was little chance she'd be able to manage something as bold as putting Cor on his ass. This was her chance to prove to Cor she was ready, ready to protect Lestallum and Leo and everyone else.

Cor was almost a foot taller than her, and his reflexes were sharp, but Iris did have a slight edge in speed if she pushed. They traded blows, more Iris attacked and Cor maintained a defensive, keeping her from breaking his guard. She tried to dance around, circle, but he maintained just enough distance as to keep her two steps out of reach.

'You lose about a foot of reach' she remembered his younger version saying.

She pressed him, every time he tried to keep distance she pressed forward, it was almost amusing at first, a young woman backing a grown man around the room, and after a few seconds she felt as though she had a general idea for how he was choosing to hold his defenses as he retreated, and she began her push after that, attacking furiously, keeping herself tight enough in that Cor's longer arms became a detriment.

It didn't last long, one solid punch out and he pressed the pommel of his sword to her ribs, likely bruising, but she answered by swinging her own fist towards him, impacting his jaw hard for a brief moment before he moved to take the blow less squarely and danced back three steps.

Iris's breath was ragged, and after a few more moments the adrenaline started to run dry and the jab to her ribs was starting to ache.

Cor didn't say anything else, just moved the sword at his hip, stance indicating he intended to attack. Iris swallowed down the moment of nerves and watched him. He lunged forward, and Iris danced to the side, she didn't answer his attacks, not at first, just focused on her own movements, keeping her feet, keeping her head...

She managed a few counter attacks, moments when she was able to block a blow and press the advantage enough to get closer in to his guard, but she didn't land another hit, their blows trading back and forth, until her arms finally gave out under a particularly brutal draw from him and her sword clattered to the ground. She brought her hands up, but Cor raised his own hand, signaling for her to hold.

"Damn," she said.

"Not bad," he answered, reaching down to pick up the sword and presenting it back to her. She took it, and then after a moment sheathed it and took a deep breath. "I... you put up a better fight than most of the Hunters out there already."

"Most," she answered with a grumble, but she set her sword down and headed over to where Leo had been watching with rapt attention, tugging her son out of the chair and pressing a soft kiss to his nose.

"Yes, most," Cor came to join her. "Next time he argues with me about Hunter watch posts, I'll send you to cut Dave down a bit."

Iris took the tacit compliment: you're good enough to beat the chief Hunter. "Poor Dave..." She looked down at Leo, and the way he focused on her with his huge eyes, shining that blue that made her just want to hug him and not let go. "What do you say, Leo? You wanna spend some time with your Uncles so mommy can go on a mission?"

Beside her, she heard Cor sigh, because she knew he didn't have to be happy about it to agree she should be able to rejoin active duty.

"There's no shame in stepping back," Cor said. "Your brother, Prompto, Ignis... they signed up for this... well Prompto less so, but Ignis and Gladio have been in the Crownsguard for years."

"Did you give Gladdy a speech?" Trying not to feel bitter that Cor felt he needed to say that to her. She didn't know if it was because she was a girl, or because of Leo, but...

"Yes," Cor said. Iris glanced over to him, shocked. "Not about demons, but about serving in the Crownsguard, and the selfishness of placing vanity and pride over the King and Country you serve... Ignis got that speech too, long ago. Prompto got his less than a year ago. It's because when you start to place yourself on a certain path, you also have to know where it will end. Are you prepared to face not coming home to your son?"

Said son had the nerve to smile at her just then, and Iris smiled back. "Yeah." She pressed her nose to his forehead and brushed it there for a moment. "Cor, I... I love Leo, he's... a memory of a really sweet time in my life... but I want him to grow up and see the light come back. I'm fighting now so that he can have a good life. Maybe there's no shame in not fighting... but I can't look my son in the eyes if I'm not doing everything in my power to help. I'm an Amicitia. My family has served this country since the first days... and I'm not going to let Gladdy have all the fun."

When she looked over to Cor, he was smiling, and after another moment he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then I'm fairly certain there's a convoy heading out to that... old Souvenir Emporium that needs another pair of hands and eyes to make sure we keep on breathing. Try to prove yourself... but don't take unnecessary risks. If you truly want to step into the role your father held back in Lucis you need to show strength as well as forbearance. Now go get some ice for your rib."

"Yeah..." She tilted Leo towards Cor and he took the boy wordlessly. "Some asshole pommeled me."

Cor glanced to the boy. "When that's your first word, I'm going to tell your mom that it's her own fault."

"Probably." Iris did head off though, and tried to find some ice before she made up a small pack, and even brought a smaller compress as a peace offering for her own punch to Cor's jaw.

She returned to find that Leo was holding onto two of Cor's fingers and mouthing his thumb, while Cor looked down at the boy with... pride, maybe... The moment of it made Iris's chest ache. Gladdy and Prompto made that face sometimes, the whole 'that's my nephew!', Ignis made it less, if only because he wasn't subjected to the same smiles and tiny actions that the other two were. He was most fond of talking at Leo, and Iris had definitely noticed his smile after. All of that paled in comparison to watching Cor with Leo, though.

Cor was... good with Leo, and good for Leo... and even if he never knew the truth, Iris could at least hope that The Immortal would stick around for her son, even if she couldn't.

Iris came to sit beside him and passed over the compress which he brought to his own jaw. She tucked hers against her rib.

"Is he hungry?" Cor asked.

She shook her head. "He just ate. He'll get bored eventually."

Cor nodded and continued to allow his hands to be subjected to mouthing, before Leo finally let go and then Cor went back to teasing him with wiggled fingers and then getting his pinkie gnawed on.

"He gets bored more easily if you don't constantly tease him."

"I know."

Iris smiled. Cor could most certainly be doing something else, almost anything else other than let her son play with and attempt to eat his fingers, but he was sitting there, just sitting, spending time... because...

She tamped down on the flutter that sent to her stomach, and the way it made her squirm that bordered between uncomfortable and a little turned on. Cor wasn't _hers_. She didn't get to put that on him, so she pushed it down and tried not to think about it, and hoped like hell it would go away.

*

After almost two years of Dark, Cor finally felt like he was used to it. In some ways, he was surprised it took him as long as it had. Military life taught a man to sleep when he could, wake when he needed, and be ready to move at a moment's notice, but he supposed when almost everyone else struggled to keep waking up, much less do anything, learning to be at home in the dark was some small achievement.

When he opened his eyes, he usually took it as a given he needed to be awake, so he stretched, feeling the irritating tension in his back from too soft a mattress and he rolled off of the squishy futon and pulled on pair of jeans.

He found Gladio in the tiny kitchen of the two bedroom hotel suite that Gladio, Prompto, Ignis, Iris, and Leo shared. Leo was holding his hands out as he picked his way through a mess of what might have been apple sauce and... Cor didn't want to hazard a guess about the white lumpy stuff. 'Picking' in Leo's case meant a mix of grabbing food with his hands or shoving his mouth onto the camper plate that held the food.

They were all piled together there, and Cor often wondered how they hadn't all killed each other yet, but there was little option with so many people pouring into Lestallum by the day. Cor kept his own apartment, such as it was, an old shipping crate from the power plant moved up on the top of one of the many flat-roofed buildings in Lestallum. That makeshift space had to be made for the thousands of refugees that poured in from the countryside.

It wasn't safe anywhere, it never was, but there was little by way of aggression towards Lestallum by the demons, and it was even possible to walk out of the city without encountering a single one. The only problem was when a civilian did... it never ended well.

"Cowaaa!" The boy held up a hand, filled with goop, and Cor answered with a wave.

"Hey, Leo."

Gladio hooked a thumb over his shoulder and Cor followed the gesture to where two eggs and a slice of bread sat, uncooked.

"Thanks." He settled in at the stove, clicking it on before turning around to watch Leo. "No word?"

The clarification was unnecessary, but Gladio shook his head regardless. Cor tried not to let the worry show on his face. He was over at the hotel because Ignis, Prompto, and Iris were all out on missions. They tried not to overlap, but... life happened, and he was trying not to let his own anxiousness about the trio show to Leo. He might have been unable to say _much_ , but he picked up more than Cor wished he would.

"Heading out?" Cor asked.

"Yeah, we've got something going around with the gighees so need to get a vet in and..." Gladio held up his hand, just his way of saying 'fuck everything' and Cor gave a nod. "You good?"

Cor nodded. "Get them back in shape, I miss bacon."

"You and everyone else," Gladio answered with a smile. "Cya, Squirt."

"Bye, Deedee."

Gladio headed off after that, and Cor continued to cook his breakfast and keep an eye on Leo's progression through his own. Cor eventually fished out a spoon and scrubbed it, handing it over to the boy and watching as he now transitioned between hands, shoving his face in the plate, and attempting to use a spoon. "Progress."

Eggs scrambled and bread lightly toasted. Cor took Gladio's vacated seat across from where Leo was strapped in to his makeshift high-chair - it was a bar stool with added bolsters and a tray that had to be unscrewed by hand to get it off. He nudged some of the eggs onto the toast and then dug in, taking a bite and chewing slowly as Leo pressed the spoon against the tray and started to swirl it through his food.

He slowly worked through his breakfast, watching as most of the food on the tray also disappeared, and then sat through both Leo deciding he wanted to eat what Cor was - which meant Cor leaving a little curd of egg to the wayside while it cooled - and Leo deciding that Cor needed to eat his breakfast... which meant that he no longer could claim to be innocent of the matter of what apple sauce and yogurt tasted like together.

Cor gave Leo's hands, face, and stomach a firm scrub, cleaned up the bombshell remains of breakfast, made a cursory diaper check, shoved Leo into a white moogle t-shirt that Iris had sewn him, and strapped him in to his leash and harness.

"Cowaa?" Someday Leo would master the art of the 'R', but for the moment Cor had to consider he had gotten off pretty good compared to Uncles Deedee, Neenee, and Toto.

"Yeah?" he asked, giving the harness an experimental tug to make sure it was secured.

"Ma?"

Cor let out a breath. "Your mom's busy." He sort of hated to put it like that, they were all _busy_ , and it wasn't like the Dark gave them the luxury to allow for stay at home mothering by someone who could fight. "She'll be home soon."

He repeated it, or at least the slightly mumbley and stumbley child version of it: 'home soon'... possibly 'ham soup', but Cor suspected the former, and then said it a few more times for good measure. Cor took it as a sign that the excuse was wearing thin, even to a fourteen month old.

Cor locked up and shouldered Leo for the three flights down the stairs and then set him down in the hotel lobby. It was the nexus of the makeshift flophouse the hotel had become, with laundry strung up everywhere, the glass doors thrown wide to allow a slight wind to whip through. The old couch had long since disappeared, stolen one day by someone who felt the need and to hell with the consequences for everyone else.

"Let's get to HQ," Cor told the boy, even though he had zero sense of direction, he knew that that meant to get moving, and whether he realized it or not, he just sort of expected Cor to have his path head the right way. Over the course of being Leo's designated babysitter during early parts of the day, Cor had become a master of the quick harness grab and then setting Leo back down facing the correct direction.

When little legs eventually gave out after a short trek, Cor picked him up and dealt with the amused squeals as he was manhandled like a duffel. Dustin, it seemed, was the one who always was the most disconcerted by it. Yes, he was the marshal, Cor the Immortal, and he had a baby bungied to his waist that he carried around in one hand the way he did his sword in the other.

One morning workout later, Cor settled in over their topographic map of Cleigne and made note of the report that had come in from Talcott that he and Ignis had arrived at their tomb destination and were settled in for a long haul of at least a few days with a strong defensive position at the local haven. He scratched down a waxy notation of the position on the glass.

Dave and his second of the moment - Howe - came in and discussed the water treatment security.

"The Captain asked me to make sure we're clear on the part over the Drop," Cor said a moment later. "She was none too pleased with the loss of the Bypass last month." Iris had been furious, in point of fact. She understood the push and pull of territorial fighting, but she didn't stand for random imps taking over a well-fortified post. "Biggs will be expecting your team."

Howe was nodding, but the young man seemed to be fighting back a complaint if the way he covered his mouth was any indication.

"Something to add, son?"

"Nosir," he answered, too fast to be earnest.

Cor frowned, only for Dave to gesture to Cor's right hip, when he turned, he saw Leo standing by his side, one hand at his face in far too accurate a mimicry of Cor's tendency to pinch the bridge of his nose while his other hand seemed to list off the deficiencies of the two men in front of him.

The baseline babble that Cor expected due to Leo's presence was out in force, a string of slightly annoyed syllables continued long after Cor fell silent.

Cor turned back to the two men, and gave them a withering look.

Howe turned to the boy and gave a crisp salute. "Yessir."

Dave's own salute was more bemused, but he made it nevertheless, and the two men turned and made their retreat. Leo looked absolutely thrilled.

"No more giving orders until you stop shitting yourself," Cor said after he had recovered from the reflexive embarrassment of the mix of pride and longing that coiled in his chest from the idea of Iris's son mimicking his behavior.

"Oh, _my_ fault if he talks like that is it?"

Cor felt his breath catch in his throat.

"Ma! Mamamamamama."

Leo charged off toward Iris only to reach the edge of his tether and give a slight yank at Cor's hip and he reached down to unhook it, leaving the leash to trail and Leo to grab at Iris and she scooped the boy up and began to pepper kisses over every inch of his face.

The happy squeal continued, and Cor smiled as he felt a treacherous twist in his chest. Iris's hair was muddy and sticking up in every direction, her t-shirt stuck to her with sweat, and her pants were ripped with patches of dried blood at the knees... Cor wasn't certain he'd ever seen anyone so beautiful.

It wasn't a new feeling, but something about that moment slammed into him hard and left him reeling. His hammering heart was back under control by the time Iris was through kissing Leo and she smiled at him now and he managed to answer with just a slight smile.

"Can you watch him while I catch a shower?"

"Of course."

Unfortunately, Leo was having absolutely none of it. Cor could hardly say he didn't understand, Iris had been gone close to two weeks...

"Mama needs a shower, Leo."

The fussing and complaining continued, and Cor reflected on the fact that he was absolutely hopeless because he ended up clearing the men's locker room and sitting, back to the stalls, as Iris showered and kept up a stream of chatter with Leo.

Something that sounded suspiciously like a barely verbal recounting of days of time followed with various sounds intermixed with the names of the Uncles in Leo's life and Iris would respond to the recounting with enthusiastic reactions and asking: 'did he really?!' or saying 'well of course Deedee would do that', and Cor found himself smiling along, lost in the amusement of it, only to be rudely jarred out of the moment by Iris, clad in nothing but a towel, walking past him, picking up the folded clothes, and heading towards a locker bay.

Leo, the little traitor, trailed after her, and Cor found himself standing, his back again at the lockers, while Leo strained at his harness to get closer to Iris. Finally, Iris returned, fully clothed, clean, and smiling, and she happily scooped her son up again and the two of them exited the locker room and made quick work of the return to the main office.

He found himself falling into the rhythm of their days again, easily, Iris gave her report of the scouting mission, they discussed the implications for food and power and water, and Leo sat by his mother, trying to get her attention and constantly drawing her away from the report only for Iris to kiss his nose or his forehead or his cheek and leave him to laugh and keep pushing through the work.

"Thanks for looking after him," she said, finally.

"Always a pleasure," he assured her.

She gave him a slightly curious look, just for a moment, and Cor hoped his face didn't give away anything more than the genuine care that he had for both Iris and Leo. "I'll let you get some time to hear yourself think," she said. "I bet you're missing your apartment."

The honest response would have been that he didn't really... but instead he titled his head, hopefully conveying 'well, you know', and Iris smiled at him before placing Leo on her hip.

"Deedee?"

"Yeah, let's go see Uncle Deedee!"

"Bye, Cowaa!" Leo said.

"Cya, Leo... be good for your mama, alright?"

"Yessaa!" And the boy accompanied it by putting a hand on his forehead before waving.

Cor was too wrapped up in his own mind to even worry if Iris had turned to see the soft look on his face, or the gentle smile... and he eventually gave up on his too quiet office and worked off his excess irritation in the gym before heading home to his apartment...

And realizing the one thing he had never made time for in his life and had never missed was hammering in the back of his mind... He was in love with his best friend's daughter, and the woman who may very well have been the mother of his liege's child.

"Well, shit."

*

The first few days after Iris came home were always the strangest. She almost felt like she lived in two worlds, one where she was clawing her way up in the respects of the men and women who formed the backbone of the defensive force for Lestallum, and one as she continued her journey to be an adequate mom to an amazing kid.

She took Leo around Lestallum, reminding herself of the sights, and what she was fighting to protect for her son's future.

The two of them sat at the markets, Iris having ordered a berry shaved ice, one of the few treats that they could still keep making since it took little more than ice and fruit. The fruit... well it came and went, they had more growing in the new hydroponics at the plant, but it was just something that screamed 'normal' to her.

Leo got an icy mouthful every few spoons, as the two of them just sat...

"Ma." Her attention gotten, Leo began another string of nonsense where he continued to explain his day... at least that's how she always thought of it, him trying to express himself and her doing her best to keep up.

"Man, he's never that much of a chatterbox with us," Gladdy said, giving her a wave and sitting down across from her.

"You guys don't talk to him enough," she answered. "Right? Uncle Deedee is so quiet. You like to talk, right?"

Leo opened his mouth, possibly to answer that yes he did, but Iris decided to take a spoonful of the ice and hold it for him and he ate a bite of that instead.

"Just wait for Uncle Neenee to get home and he'll talk to you all you want, right?"

"Glaaaaaddy," Gladdy said, enunciating.

"Deedee!" Leo answered, and Iris snorted into her son's hair.

"I'm pretty sure he knows who Gladdy is," Iris said a few moments later. "But you're gonna be Deedee for a while. Just own it."

Her brother groaned and settled back into the chair, giving a nod to the server when he came and ordered his own ice. "Hey, a man's gotta have his pride, right?" Still, he didn't protest further.

They went back and forth about her mission for a bit before she stretched and popped her back.

"Oh... right."

Iris looked over to Gladdy and cocked her head.

"Just... uh... wanted to run something by you."

"Sure," she said. It was fairly rare that her brother sought her out for advice or her thoughts on things, but she would do her best to help. She sometimes got a bit of 'boy talk' with him, when he was thinking about getting more serious with a girl, but that rarely lasted more than three nights.

"You know Marcus? The vet guy?"

She nodded. He was sort of friends with Gladdy, with her brother doing work with the livestock and hydroponic farming that kept them fed, he tended to be pretty friendly with any vets or other sorts. He was even major bros with this guy named Navyth that had apparently been a fisher who Noct ran into a lot during his travels.

"He's like your age, right?"

"Red hair, yeah." Gladdy frowned for a moment, and then shrugged. "He expressed an interest."

"In what?" Iris asked, now her own turn to frown in confusion.

"You."

"What about--?" She found the words died in her mouth, realizing exactly what her brother was saying. "Oh..."

"Just thought I'd mention it," Gladdy continued, holding his hands up in response, absolving himself of the knot he'd placed in her stomach. "No matter how it ended up with the little guy's dad, doesn't mean you can't fall in love again, right?"

She must have made a face that said exactly how she was feeling about the idea of falling in love again right then.

"Or just have some fun?" he suggested.

"The last time I had some fun is the reason I can't do that, Gladdy," she answered.

"I get that you've got... Leo to think about." Her son perked up at his name, looking between the two of them, and Iris pressed a kiss to his head.

"That's you," she answered.

"But it's been almost two years... I just wanted to remind you that you're allowed to move on."

'Move on...' she sighed, and nuzzled her nose into her son's dark hair. She already had... sort of... she'd made peace with the idea that she'd never see her Cor again the moment she'd gotten back home. Even before she knew about Leo... even before the first moment she'd kissed Cor... she knew that there was only a short amount of time she'd get to enjoy something stupid and happy and simple.

"I know it's allowed," she said, finally deciding that if Gladdy was going to try to talk to her about it, the least she could do was respond in kind. "I just... do have a lot to think about if I... date someone. I can't just... he's gotta be the whole deal. I'm already gone so much, I can't just pop him with you guys just so I can go..."

"I mean... you can," Gladdy answered. "I'd be happy to look after him if you need some time to have a life."

"Leo's my top man," Iris said, giving him a little hug and then polishing off the last of her ice by offering the spoon to him. "But I'll keep it in mind. I'll pass on the red-headed vet dude, though..."

"He's not bad to look at," her brother answered. "Got enough of a romantic streak..."

"Gladdy, I..." She found herself thinking about Cor, because how could she _not_ when her brother was trying to make her think about having someone in her life, encouraging her to go out and have a good time, how could she not think about Cor... "Not him."

Her brother might look like a huge dumb meathead... he kinda was sometimes, but he did know her pretty well, and he picked up on at least part of what she was thinking. "Someone else?"

She flushed, and that gave away most of the rest of the game.

"... Oh." When she looked back up at him he was giving her a soft little smile. "Like I said, you're allowed to move on. Prompto?"

"Please don't," she said. "It's... it's not something you can just mash together and make it happen by twisting his arm to get me flowers."

They both looked away, Gladdy because she was talking about Noct, and because he still probably thought he was Leo's dad, Iris because she was ashamed she'd said it in the first place.

"If I... move on, it'll be because I'm ready, and he likes me, and we work, alright? And it's not Prompto, just leave it be."

"Can't blame a big brother for wanting his lil' sis to be happy."

"No, but I can blame him for being a meddling doofus."

"Ignis?"

Iris made an annoyed noise and stood, leaving Gladdy with the bill for her ice so she could go grump in relative silence over on the other side of the market. "Don't you worry," she said to Leo, scratching her fingers against his chest a little bit as he cooed in delight. "You're my main man."

She made her way back home, to the Leville and sat down with Leo on the futon couch, and she even took her son and pulled him onto her lap, sitting with him.

"Hey buddy," she said, not quite certain what she wanted to say. "I... I know you like having all your uncles. Do you... want to have a dad? Do you even know what that means?" She shook her head, of course he didn't. "Dad?"

"Da." He repeated that part, at least. Iris was fairly certain he heard the word on occasion, although it was a bit taboo around the house for the reason where Iris had almost a half-dozen uncles for Leo and not a dad... and most of those uncles thought the dad was...

She shook her head, and then leaned back onto the couch only to note the faint scent of clove and she groaned. "Was Uncle Cor here?"

"Cowaa!" Leo answered, enthusiastically, and Iris knew that wasn't a confirmation, just her son adoring Cor, she tugged Leo down and put her head against the pillow. The scent was very faint, almost gone, and she closed her eyes to soak it in for a few moments.

"I like him, too," she admitted, to herself, to her son... to the universe in general. "He's... good with you... not too bad to look at, either." That wasn't true... Cor was... still handsome, but he was just so _different_... it was almost easy to think of him as an entirely different man than the one who had given her the amazing kid at her side.

She gave into the urge to lay on the couch, putting her head against the squishy pillow still set for sleeping.

The scent was no more pronounced, but it was still there, and she snuggled her son to her chest and closed her eyes tighter. "I like him, too..."

Iris didn't realize she'd shed a few tears until she felt a touch on her cheek, her eyes snapping open and her hand lashing out, only to find she'd grabbed her brother's wrist and tugged Leo close to protect him on instinct. After realizing she wasn't in any danger, she sat up, blinking up at her brother and noting his pointed look at the pillow where she'd been laying just a moment ago.

She could feel the faint flush rising in her cheeks.

"Really?" Gladdy asked, not exactly skeptical, or even mad, but obviously a little surprised at the conclusion he'd drawn. He might have even heard her admit to liking Cor... apparently Cor hadn't ranked high on her brother's list of guys Iris might have been interested in.

"Like I said, leave it alone, Gladdy. It's my mess to sort out."

Her brother -- apparently completely incapable of taking anything resembling a hint -- took a seat beside her and looked over to her. "I don't know if he has a type..." Gladdy began.

Iris buried her face in the hand she wasn't using to hold her son.

"I mean you could do better..." he continued, really awkward now, somehow trying to say 'sure go for it' and 'oh Six please no' all at the same time. "But he's... yaknow... good with Leo, and I'm sure he knows how to... girl."

"How to girl?" Iris asked. This from her brother who had absolutely never, _ever_ been shy about exactly how he 'girled'.

"I'm trying to be supportive!"

"So you're going to babysit while I see if he needs my help to polish his sword?" she asked, feeling almost liberated by saying it. She'd never gotten to talk about Cor, not even really as a generic boy, and it felt just a little amazing to admit that her brain put Cor and sex right next to each other and it had all the added bonus of making her brother wildly uncomfortable.

Gladdy apparently decided this was beyond scandalous, which was pretty funny, and he reached out to cover Leo's ears, which only made Iris laugh harder.

"So... have we learned to keep out of our baby sister's love life yet?" she asked, giving her brother's hands a gentle whack and scooping up Leo to cart him over to the kitchen.

"I could talk to him?"

Iris settled Leo into the chair and then leaned over so she could see Gladdy. "The next comment is going to be about him sheathing his sword."

He fled, finally. Iris let out an annoyed sigh and then scrounged around in the refrigerator.

"Alrighty," she said. "We have Uncle Neenee's peas and carrots... or... sweet potatoes... or stew. Which one?"

Leo, of course, didn't make a choice, so Iris decided on peas and carrots and settled in to pull out a spoon and twisted open the jarred baby food. The hilarious part was out damn gourmet Ignis was about the stuff, it was like he felt personally responsible for shoving a ridiculous number of flavors at Leo so he didn't go all Noct levels of picky eater. Also known as 'Ignis thought Leo was Noct's'. He also seemed to appreciate that the end result was headed for the blender so he didn't have to agonize over the fact that his ability to managed presentation was still basically zero.

He was getting better, of course, trying to relearn cooking, but he always said Leo was an appreciative audience for even his most meager efforts. Iris spent an hour or so after dinner trying to pull together another shirt - dark this time, with a white Crownsguard logo - before she read Leo a bedtime story and tucked him in.

"Ma?"

"Yeah, Leo?"

"Haaam soo?" She frowned. "Mama haam soo?"

She blinked back a few tears when she realized what he was asking. "Yes. Mama's home soon. Not going anywhere for a while."

Iris ended back up in the little living area, tiny thought it was, and she settled in to finish up the stitching on the Crownsguard patch. Gladdy came in a bit latter, back from the guys' room, with a gentle knock on the table beside her.

"Sorry," he said. "I'm just... trying to help, and I'm bad at it."

"I know." She took a deep breath. "I do like him, a lot more than anyone else you want to throw at me. I realize it's... sort of weird."

"No, it makes sense," her brother answered. "I mean... yes, it's weird, but he's been around, he's been there for you, hell I don't know if you liked him then but you named your kid after him."

She looked down at the shirt, feeling a bit guilty, but she nodded none the less.

"I don't know if he'll be able to look past..." Gladdy struggled for a word. "Dad, but you know he's not going to leave just because you put yourself out there."

"I know." Cor was distressingly steady sometimes. "It's just complicated."

"Make it simple."

"It's not going to be simple," Iris answered. "It's... really, really not simple."

"Don't work yourself up too much over it."

Iris laughed at the irony, if only Gladdy knew... "Alright, I won't, but please, don't... do anything. Promise?"

He seemed like he didn't want to agree, but he did nod. Iris didn't put much consideration into the grand operation to seduce Cor Leonis... again... but she figured she'd sort it out eventually... maybe...

*

Cor woke painfully aware of the fact he was a horrible person and would never be able to look Clarus in the eye should they meet in the hereafter. An ice cold shower was his self-punishment and he had only barely begun to warm to the sweltering heat of Lestallum when he finished his oatmeal breakfast and headed to HQ.

Iris joined him less than an hour later, sunny as ever, even in the Dark, wearing one of her older dresses, dark blue-black, that had become far more daring since she'd grown an inch or two over the last years.

She was absolutely everything that made her impossible to forget and completely inappropriate to notice.

"Cowaa." Leo greeted him with a grin and Cor answered with his own smile and wave.

"Someone only thinks mama is cool when she's been gone too long," Iris said, setting her son down and watching Leo head over to give his leg a hug.

"I thought we said not to give your mom a hard time," Cor said, brushing a hand over messy hair.

"It's fine," she said, and she didn't seem upset at all despite her earlier words. "He's too young to really sort it all out."

Cor nodded and they headed to their day. He and Iris sparred, reviewed the active missions, and then headed out to review the city's fortifications. It took them several hours, and they ended up by the plant, making sure the paths up from the disc were secure, and Cor had a few words with one of the guards before turning to see Iris failing to stifle a fond smile.

A few moments of searching found Leo at his side, giving his own orders, bridge of his nose in two fingers.

"Someone might be spending too much time with me..." He said as the three of them headed off.

"No such thing," Iris answered.

Cor tried not to overthink her comment, but when he turned to where Iris was, Leo settled against her side, held easily in one arm, he caught an expression he didn't think he'd ever seen on Iris's face.

It wasn't an unfamiliar look, he was fairly certain Cid had once jokingly called the look 'hey there, Soldier', but that look on Iris's face was... terrifying. He returned to face the path they cut through the dark city.

"So..." Iris seemed to struggle for her words, and Cor wondered if she was going to address that look or just leave it. "Gladdy may have reminded me the other day that I'm... ah... allowed to... move on."

The implication was obvious, but he had no idea what to say to that.

"Just saying."

"Of course," Cor answered.

They didn't say anything else on the topic, just made their way back to the offices and Cor reflected on Iris's words as she sat down at one of the desks, Leo sitting up on it, as Iris dug out lunch that was announced as 'Uncle Neenee's anak stew'.

Cor found himself watching, and musing on the so casually imparted information from Iris. In only a few words she'd said... quite a bit. 'You're good for my son', 'I'm ready to move on', and that look... 'I'd move on with you'.

When he was younger, love and happiness and a family had never been his grand fantasy. The realistic part of him had known that he had little to offer a woman by way of stability, it was only in the slight lull in the Niflheim War five years before the Dark that he was even in Insomnia for long stretches of time, and even that had quickly fallen away when the conflict had heated up again.

The past two years had actually brought something resembling a steadiness to his life. He was expected to deploy, the same as any of the active hunters, but he was also expected to be home, to order and prepare and organize. He'd become an uncle... he'd begun to fall in love with Iris...

Eventually he stood, and he came to stand where Iris was patiently scooping out bits of the pureed stew and offering them up for a hungry Leo. Iris glanced to him, gave him a smile, and Cor tugged a chair over and offered a hand, Iris wordlessly handed over the spoon and Cor took his own turn feeding the boy.

He held out his free hand, setting it open palmed on her knee, and she answered by taking it and twining their fingers together and Cor felt his heart hammer in his chest in response. "I..." He didn't know what to say, so he looked at Leo as he tongued the spoon a bit and then tried to chew on it. "If you're sure."

"I am." The lack of hesitation terrified him.

He squeezed her fingers in his, and she responded immediately, answering with her own.

"We should... talk. We need to," she said, finally. "But about this... there's no doubt in my mind."

It was strange to realize that he felt the same way. Leo finished eating and they danced around each other for close to an hour, Cor uncertain if he should touch her, Iris seemingly fighting a war between standing right at his side and leaving him space. Leo finally distracted himself with some blocks and Iris came to stand just in front of Cor, waiting...

He reached up and brushed a hand against her jaw, fine bones and smooth skin greeted his fingers and then he gently curled his fingers against the back of her neck, holding her steady, looking down into her eyes. Iris never broke her gaze, and she leaned in more, her hands barely touching against his chest, looking for something in his eyes.

Cor leaned down, and Iris met him without hesitation and their lips met in a cautious greeting. Her lips tasted of the wax that passed for lip balm anymore, hair was feathery soft, and she gasped a relieved breath before she opened her mouth and he answered with a gentle press of their tongues that lasted for far too short a time before he pulled away and looked down at Iris's pouty smile.

He smiled back and chuckled. "I thought we needed to talk."

"We do..." she pulled away, but she was still smiling just a bit. "But it's... nice to know it's worth talking about."

That made him smile and take more than a bit of comfort in the strange courtship dance they were hesitantly stepping through.

To his surprise, Gladio arrived a while later and wordlessly helped Iris pack up Leo and slung his nephew over his shoulder.

Cor had to wonder what, exactly, Iris had told Gladio to earn the impromptu babysitting session, and a small part of him was concerned Gladio might be judging his aims or motives.

All ability to pretend Gladio was unaware ended when he stood in the door, Leo slung over his shoulder and said: "Tell your mom and Cor to be good."

"Bye, be goo!"

Cor felt the smile tug at his lips before he snapped a quick salute. "Yes, sir."

Leo beamed as Gladio walked him out of the office, and after a few moments Iris came to stand beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Talk?" he asked.

She looked around, assessing the office and she seemed to be displeased.

"... We could go back to my place," he suggested, hoping it was just an obvious option for a private conversation and not pushing.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's good."

Iris seemed... conflicted as they walked, again vacillating between standing too close and too far, but Cor didn't let the tentative dance bother him too much. He was fighting his own battle of self-restraint and nervous hope.

They arrived at the shanty town on the roof of the old warehouse Cor called home, and Cor opened the door and ushered Iris in and to the bench that served as his couch as well as a desk and dining room chair in the small space.

He closed the door behind them and then joined her, sitting just far enough apart that their thighs didn't touch... and he waited.

"I like you," Iris blurted, and then after she said it she took a deep breath and continued on. "When you're around I feel like things are sort of alright, and when I'm away I miss you... and I always felt like it was wrong to try to push you to be there for me, or Leo, and you just were anyway and... I..."

Cor reached out and brushed his fingers against the shell of her ear, and Iris tilted her head to look towards him and he smiled. "I care for you, Iris..." He felt guilty as hell for it, but he did, and selfish or not he wasn't going to say no if he was what she wanted. "I care for you, I adore your son, and I'll be here for both of you... no matter how this turns out."

A tiny little sob came from her, and she looked down, but he was fairly certain she wasn't upset.

"I... I have to tell you something."

Cor turned towards her, uncertain what she might think needed to be said, but he waited, and she looked up at him with wet brown eyes before she rubbed her hand to her face to wipe them away.

"Leo's dad--"

Cor reached out, put a hand back on her shoulder. "You don't need to tell me," he said.

She glanced up, surprised. "You--?"

"You have a past, it's fine. You don't owe an explanation to me just because you want..." He struggled for a word, and finally settled for: "me. I care about you and I care about Leo and it doesn't matter to me whose he is."

"Oh..." She looked back down, almost sounding disappointed, and Cor couldn't figure out why, but before he could have much time to reflect she looked up again, eyes more determined. "I need to tell you."

Cor still didn't understand why, but he knew there was no arguing with Iris when she'd set her mind to something. "Alright. I'm listening."

"Um..." Iris grabbed the small purse she sometimes had, pulling it into her lap and shoving her hand in it before drawing out a clenched fist. "So... um... after Insomnia... I had some time to just... be. I was dealing with a lot, with Dad, with everything just going straight to hell, and I needed to feel like I was helping, like I could take Dad's place and help us move forward. That stuff."

Cor nodded, he largely remembered the time, not in specific detail, but they all had been working hard to pull together enough to make order of the chaos.

"So I spent a few weeks just... being me, trying to sort it out." She frowned. "I met a guy."

Cor waited, silent, but after a moment he reached out to put a hand on her shoulder and Iris scooted towards him, bringing their legs close enough to touch.

"He was my age," she continued. "But he definitely was one of those guys who wanted to be older, you know? Didn't like people thinking of him as a kid but still totally a kid?"

Cor chuckled, he couldn't say he didn't know the type.

"We... we each other's firsts, and then about a month later he had to go and I had to get back to everything that was going on and we parted as... you know, it wasn't us dumping each other... just the end of a fun little romance."

"I understand." And it still wasn't anything Cor couldn't have easily guessed. All it did was confirm that Noctis wasn't Leo's father... which was something of a relief to Cor if only as a matter of respect to his king, but none of Iris's words were shocking or unexpected.

"A--anyway..." Iris closed her eyes and took one deep breath, and then another. "When he left he gave me something... other than Leo."

Cor couldn't help it, he snorted softly. Iris laughed as well, a little watery but still definitely a laugh.

"He said it was so we could remember each other," she said. Cor thought he might have started to understand, that perhaps Iris's way of letting go of the guy was to admit that she still cared for him as well. He didn't know, but he took his hand and brushed it over her hair softly, playing with the strands, trying to calm whatever nerves were still bothering her.

Iris held up her clenched fist, whatever the trinket was it was fairly small to fit in her hands, although her fingers covered whatever it was completely.

"You want me to see it?" he asked.

She nodded.

He reached out and placed a hand over her clenched fist, and he eased it to her thigh, using his hand to cover hers and waited for her fist to slowly uncurl. It was cool, and bumpy, likely a metal of some sort, and Cor took the thing in his own fist, pulling it towards him and watching as Iris brought her hands together to fuss.

Cor still didn't know why he was being given this, but he straightened in his seat and brought his other hand from Iris's hair to fiddle with the thing. He uncurled his fingers and looked at it.

A... pendant. He looked it over, noting the craftsmanship of the thing, the stately double messengers that flanked a swirling ocean vista. It seemed... familiar, and he felt himself frown. He flipped the thing over, and noted the watchmaker's mark - Altissian, a damn expensive piece probably, especially for a fifteen year old...

The old memory slammed into him and snapped into focus, this watch was... he'd given Amy one almost exactly like it, the only difference would have been the lack of timepiece. Or at least it would have been... when he opened it up he saw the hands were there, unmoving, pronouncing a single minute locked in time for over thirty years: 10:19pm, September 12th, 725.

Nothing made sense, and there was just no explanation that Cor could make make sense, Iris was here, now, today, holding a watch he'd given someone thirty two years ago. "I... did... did the boy know your name?"

Iris shook her head. "I gave him a fake one."

"What name?" He heard his own voice, urgent and hard, and he tried to pull back the instinctual hurt and anger that came with the idea that--

"Amy Umbria," Iris said.

It didn't make any sense, Iris in his own past, the first woman he'd ever loved and made love to, a girl he'd given his heart to when he was too young to even understand that... A woman who...

"Leo is mine," he said, mind finally bringing all of the pieces together. "He's my son."

Iris eyes were shut now, and she only nodded, nodded and shed tears.

How was the obvious question, but it paled in comparison to the one that tumbled from his lips: "Why? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I--" Iris gasped for air for a moment. "When I got back... I ran into you. It was at Caem... I don't even remember what you said, not exactly. Something about my sword form being wrong?"

Cor shook his head, that sounded exactly like something he'd said far too many times to Iris or anyone else. Distant... and likely patronizing, he'd still been settling in to leaving the similarities between Amy and Iris behind, and starting to see Iris as her own woman.

"I didn't know about Leo yet," Iris continued. "You were... you, it had been thirty years, I was _fifteen_. Telling you seemed stupid... _at best_. 'Hey, marshal, remember that girl you misappropriated a gondola with in Altissia?'"

Cor cleared his throat... 'misappropriated' was an incredibly generous term for what he and Amy... _Iris_ had gotten up to in the middle of the night in that gondola.

"I figured it would be really awkward," Iris continued. "We'd left it at farewell... and it's not like you were the same person anymore, not really."

He couldn't deny that, he'd had a lot of life that he'd lived after his time in Altissia. "And after you knew about Leo?" Cor asked, because that was the part that was stinging now.

"I didn't think it was fair to force you to..."

Iris didn't finish her sentenced, but Cor could get the idea. If telling Cor about the relationship was impossible to imagine, the result of the relationship was even more difficult to wrap a mind around. Cor was still having trouble coming to terms with it even after Iris had confirmed it outright and presented him with concrete proof.

Somehow, Iris had spent five weeks in his own past and had had a truly remarkable amount of sex and then had parted from him...

"I'm sorry I put you through that," he said, finally.

"Cor," Iris said his name and it made his breath catch. "No, I... being with you was amazing, and I don't regret a single minute of it, and I definitely don't regret that it gave me Leo. Life's messy and sort of complicated now... but Leo's the best. It took me a long time to decide if I just liked you because you were... him... but you're not anymore... it's sort of like falling for a whole different guy."

Cor couldn't deny that falling for Iris had been falling for an entirely different girl than Amy... although he hadn't been aware of the connection before.

"That's... if you still want--"

"Iris." She closed her mouth. "I'm... I don't know how I feel right now, it'll probably sting for a quite a bit, but you're right that it was the right thing not to tell me then. It gave me time to... fall for a very strong, beautiful, and caring single mom."

She gave him a little smile.

"... Why Amy?" he asked finally.

"Amy-citia?" she answered, the slightly off pronouncing of her last name causing him to groan.

"I'd just gotten nearly drowned!" she protested. "You come up with a good lie that fast!"

"I suspect _how_ is going to take a while to explain," he said, reaching over to touch at her cheek. It was strange, now, even knowing what he did, he looked at Iris and he just saw... Iris. Her face was so different even from how it had looked a few years ago, he barely had thought of the similarities in ages.

"Well... when a mommy and a daddy have more sex than they have condoms..."

When he gave her an unimpressed look, she leaned in, far closer than before, and he reached out to tug her close, pressing his lips to hers and they tangled for a moment before he tugged at her hip and brought her to straddle him.

"It's strange..." He said, pulling away and Iris leaned back, eyes curious. "You look so different. I remember..." He brought his fingers to her hair, pinching it slightly. "I remember when you cut your hair. I thought I'd seen a ghost. Your father remembered you well enough to see the resemblance..."

Iris's eyes widened, and he saw a few things click in her own mind. "Did he tell you to stop coming around?"

"I resigned from instructing you," Cor answered. "I figured it was better to never give your father a reason to think..." His words died on his lips... "that this would happen."

He had Iris straddling his lap, she looked beautiful and quite willing to continue the trail of kisses, and Cor was...

She reached out and smoothed his brow, both of her thumbs rubbing over the long worn in lines there. "If it's too much..."

"No." Cor reached up and took her hands, pulling them close so he could hold them to his chest. "Just... like I said, it will take time. I want to be Leo's father..."

"You are," Iris answered. "You're... he adores you."

"Leo Leonis," Cor said.

"Don't get greedy," Iris said, but she was smiling.

"Thank you."

She looked up at him and made a soft, inquisitive noise.

"For naming him after me... even if it confused me at the time..." Cor shook his head, remembering the honor he'd felt, and the accusation that had followed. "Your brother accused me of sleeping with you."

Iris winced. "Yeah... I... don't know what I'm going to tell Gladdy. I mean for right now I figured I'd tell him... we're gonna try this out?"

"Sounds good," Cor answered, unable to stop the smile from tugging at his lips.

"I should..." Iris looked down. "I should get going. He has trouble going to sleep if he doesn't know I'm alright."

Cor was only too aware of that, as he'd given the boy... _his son_ his own share of assurances that 'mama will be alright' to soothe the bedtime worries.

"I'll walk you home."

"Gladdy's gonna glower at you," Iris teased.

"I can take it," he answered. "I'd like to kiss my son goodnight."

The smile he earned, and the enthusiastic kiss, made absolutely everything worth it.

*

Iris took the stairs two at a time on the way up to their room, and she paused at the doorway only to give Cor another soft kiss, which he answered with one of his own, before she fiddled with the key and cracked open the door.

"Ma!"

Leo came up and gave her a two armed hug around one leg, and Iris tugged him up to her hip and kissed him squarely on the nose.

"Toto!" He pointed to the kitchen and Iris walked the few steps it took to look in and see that Gladdy and Prompto were at the table, playing cards. Apparently he'd come back some time in the last hours, and Iris gave him a bright smile.

"Oh! Hey, Iris!" Prompto said, glancing between here and Leo, and then catching Cor as he followed her around the corner and he waved. "Marshal."

"Hey, Sis." Her brother glanced between her and Cor, eyes clearly looking for an answer or an excuse to try to punch Cor. "Didn't expect you home."

Iris ignored the implication that her brother had been expecting a far more... prolonged evening between her and Cor. Things were way too complicated to just fall into bed again, although the temptation was definitely there. As though he'd read her mind, Cor came up and pressed a hand to her shoulder, a touch possessive, which she didn't mind, but also offering a loose comfort and the confirmation that Gladdy was likely looking for.

"Had to be home to put Leo to bed," Iris answered, jostling her son a little bit, only for him to yawn a huge yawn right in her face, causing her to chuckle.

"Someone's sleepy..." She gave his hair a gentle scratch and he snuggled into her shoulder. "Did he eat?"

"Finished up the stew," her brother confirmed.

She debated with herself for a long moment. She had so many things she felt needed to be juggled now, more than even a few hours before, so she pressed a soft kiss to Leo's forehead. "Could you start getting him settled?" she asked Cor.

To Gladdy and Prompto it probably looked like she was dumping Leo on him, but Cor's answering relieved smile told her that he knew exactly what she was doing, giving him a chance to spend a few minutes with Leo and start to look at him as a son outside of the other guys' watchful eyes.

Iris settled in with the guys at the table while Cor retreated to the small bedroom Iris shared with Leo.

"So?" her brother prompted, almost immediately.

"We're... gonna see how it goes," she answered, that much was true, and it was an easy answer. "Cor... he feels about the same as I do, but it's going to take a while for everything to make sense."

"He better treat you right," Prompto added, just a moment later. "I mean if he didn't I'd..."

"Glower behind his back?" Gladdy offered.

"Hey." Prompto frowned. "I'd manage something."

"You don't need to," Iris answered, giving them both a smile even though she sort of wanted to whack them both in the head, too. "We want to be together, it's just a little weird to start, and Cor's trying to... you know, maybe start to be a father for Leo?" She floated the idea, loosely, a bit of a hypothetical mixed with truth. She knew how what she said sounded, and she played on that at least to keep Cor covered.

"He'll be a great dad," Prompto answered, absolutely certain.

"A little fast, isn't it?" her brother asked.

"This from the guy who was acting like I shouldn't have been back until after a good sheathing," Iris grumbled, and she greatly appreciated the horrified look on both of the boys' faces in response to that. "It's not just going to happen in a day, but at least Cor knows it's all one package, me and Leo... and you know he's been a great Uncle already."

With the two guys on the same page, at least a little bit, Iris retreated to where Cor was holding Leo loosely, the boy changed into a fresh diaper and a neat black Crownsguard tee.

"Nice shirt," he said.

"Just like his daddy," she answered, and definitely didn't miss the fond smile that followed on Cor's lips. "The guys think you're stepping up because of... us starting a relationship, they won't think it's too weird."

Cor nodded. "I've always... cared for him. It just always seemed presumptuous to impose."

Iris got it, and she knew that the reason it felt presumptuous to Cor rather than natural was her own fault, so she gave him a solid hug. After a few more minutes, and a little settling and fussing, she gave Leo a soft kiss on the head, and watched as Cor hesitated for only a moment before he did the same.

"Goodnight, Leo..." He said, and that got him a yawn. Cor stood up after that, looking down at the boy. "... son..."

A moment later he shook his head and pulled Iris close. She folded into his arms naturally and let herself be held tight.

"Those are my eyes," he said a moment later, barely a whisper.

"Yeah." She reached up, her hands teasing at the back of his head, touching the close-cropped hair there. "He gets that cute curl at the ends when his hair grows out."

Cor made a noise that sounded like a grumble, and Iris leaned in to laugh. "That's why I keep my hair short."

"I know," she answered. "It's sweet though, and..."

He nodded, obviously feeling the same way even if he was embarrassed. "Time to face your brother, I think."

The four of them took seats at the kitchen table and wordlessly started a new game. The old card deck had taken a beating in the last years, and now it was only fit for euchre and piquet, missing too many cards to play most other games.

"Did you have a good date?" Prompto asked.

Iris chuckled. "We just talked, Prompto."

"Aww, man, I wanted cuteness!"

She reached out and shoved at the side of his head.

"Somehow 'Cor the Immortal' and 'cute' don't seem like they belong in the same sentence," her brother answered, perhaps unkindly, Iris wasn't certain, but she knew for a fact that Cor had it in him.

She remembered him as a young man, and even if he was older now... she knew that Gladdy rarely got to see it, but Iris never missed the fond way he looked at Leo even before he'd known Leo was his.

She also knew how puffed up he had gotten at fifteen when he was trying to be impressive... and when she looked up across the table at Cor, she could see the slightly shy smile on his lips, one that still reminded her of that long ago sweetness. As though he could guess her thoughts, he smiled more, and Iris felt her stomach flutter in response. Sweet or not... it was clear that Cor was more than willing to try.

"I dunno," she said, smiling over to him now. "He does alright."

Cor snorted, and then picked up the dealt cards and considered his hand.

The conversation turned away from Iris and Cor's potential dating life, and instead turned over to Prompto's mission and a few of the issues with the farm animals in the moment, and a few hands later they ended up on the couch, and Iris didn't shy from snuggling up to Cor's side, and he happily slung an arm over her shoulder. Gladdy and Prompto made themselves scarce and the two of them cuddled loosely.

"Thank you," he said, very soft, his breath tickling at her ear.

Iris tilted her head slightly, nodding and nuzzling into his shoulder.

"I should get going..." He said, his fingers reached to touch at her hair, stroking for a moment. "Tomorrow? Lunch at one of the carts?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Sounds good." No matter how much she knew she needed to let him leave, she couldn't bring herself to let go.

"Or... the futon has my name on it, I think."

"You're not sleeping on that futon," Iris answered, and she knew she meant it, and she knew that any chance she had to keep distance was absolutely shot.

Safe in the knowledge Cor was staying, she found it easier to let go, and the two of them retired to her small bedroom. A brief awkwardness passed between them as they fumbled with the unfamiliarity of intimacy between them, but eventually Cor had stripped down to his boxers and Iris had tugged on a well-worn camisole, their clothes wordlessly hanging in the small closet of the room and then they sat on opposite sides of the bed.

"Alright?" Cor asked, turning towards her, and Iris joined him, looking over at him and finding herself enamored with the similarities and differences. Cor had never been slight, but he had far more muscle than his youth, broader in the shoulders and chest, and Iris reached out, a hesitant hand touching before she pulled away.

"Yeah," she said. "This is... this is good."

Cor brought her closer after they'd got into bed, and Iris found herself folding easily into his arms, her head resting gently on his chest, her hands teasing at his stomach.

"I... yeah, are you... I know you said it'd take time."

He reached up, fingers touching against her hair as he seemed to think about what he wanted to say. "I've cared for you for some time," he said, finally. "The hardest part is... still the same things that have kept me from thinking about you like this..."

"Hmm?" she asked.

"I'm... a good bit older than you," he said. "Decades. I sometimes find myself thinking how horrified your father would be..."

Iris sighed. She knew, she got it, she understood. "I didn't mean for it to be this complicated."

"I know," he assured her, hands ghosting down her back. "But now I have a child with you... I know I'm older, more jaded, less open... but I also know you've seen me..."

"Sweet and dorky," Iris said, still remembering that part of Cor. "And I've seen you smile... I know that's still in there even if you pretend it's not." She wriggled up, one elbow holding her up while she brushed a thumb over the well-worn lines at Cor's brow. He answered with a smile, that soft, sweet one that he got sometimes that Iris knew made her melt. "Just like that."

She leaned in to press a soft kiss to his lips, and Cor responded immediately before the two of them finally broke apart.

"So the last few hours have been me telling myself Clarus would have been more upset if I didn't take a place in his grandson's life..." Cor shook his head, and Iris could tell this wasn't really just about her father, this was about a whole mess of things that she'd put on Cor - however unintentionally - that he was struggling to deal with now. "But it will take a while for this to not make me feel guilty."

"I got it." She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "I'm gonna crash."

The two of them ended up curled together, Iris plastered to Cor's side, Cor's arms wrapped around her, and the two of them fell asleep far too easily.

Hours later, she woke to the gentle feeling of strong hands trailing over her shoulders and back, gently massaging and holding onto her, and after a few moments to enjoy the easy pleasure of it, she groaned and tilted her head so she could press her lips against Cor's throat.

"Good morning," he said, voice a bit tight, and she shifted against him more and noted that Cor's body had certainly become aware of the fact he was tangled with a mostly naked woman.

Iris drew away just enough to not tease, but she did leave a hand against his chest. "Sleep ok?"

"Mmmhmm..." He took one of her hands and kissed the palm, and Iris leaned in to plant a soft kiss at his lips before looking down to brush her fingers over his brow.

The two of them wordlessly made their way to the small en suite and Cor pulled out the minimalist bag that permanently lived at the Leville for when he overnighted, a quick shower for Cor while she scrubbed her teeth and face, and he'd finished a shave by the time she finished her own shower.

Still half dressed, the two of them looked at each other and Iris couldn't quite resist the urge to press close to Cor, her arms slung over his shoulders, behind his neck, and Cor's answer was to kiss her and then place his hands on her butt to pull her closer. The two of them made a frantic stumble a few steps back, moving towards the bedroom again, Iris desperately wanting to get back to bed and...

"Ma!"

Iris skittered away from Cor and Cor's own reaction was almost as swift, and the two of them turned to see that Leo had woken in his tiny crib and was now looking at the two of the, half-naked and kissing, with wide eyes. "Morning, buddy," Iris said, trying to calm her rampaging heart.

"... Ma kiss Cowaa?" he asked, because he'd clearly seen at least some of what had transpired before he greeted her.

"Uh... yeah," she answered. She hadn't exactly expected to try to explain it so soon to Leo. No doubt he'd be confused, but...

"No!" He scrambled to his feet now and he was looking like he was about to cry. "No Ma kiss Cowaa!"

Iris winced. Six that was... um... a buzzkill. She supposed a part of her had taken it as a given that Leo would have adored to have Cor around more, but it sounded like he was having the exact opposite reaction.

She turned to Cor, just for a moment, and she could tell that the refusal had stung, hard, and he was trying not to show it. Cor was only starting to get used to the idea that Leo was his son and to have that son reject him so soundly... "I should... head off."

"Stay," Iris insisted. "Gimme a minute?"

Cor nodded, grabbing pants and his shirt before heading for the bedroom door--

"No Cowaa go!" Leo said, and Iris frowned, confused, as she turned back to her son and saw the exact same reaction she got whenever she had to leave, his hands out, grabby, demanding at least one more hug before Mama disappeared off into the dark for a time.

"You're one confused little kid," Iris said. "Um... Cor's not going."

That calmed him down a bit, he stopped trying to grab for Cor, at least. He had moved from looking like he was going to cry to crying, however.

"Cor's going to... um..." Iris glanced around. Cor had pulled on his pants after that and she tilted her head towards the tiny area that made up her 'office' just a comfortable chair and a low table jammed between where she kept her bed and Leo's cot-crib. "Cor's gonna stay."

Cor did as instructed, taking a seat in the chair, and Iris went to the crib and pulled Leo out, settling herself on her bed so that Leo could sit in her lap and cuddle her and also see Cor if he glanced that way.

"What's wrong, buddy?" she asked. "Leo, why are you sad?"

Leo was barely old enough to string together explanations for being hungry or skinning his knee, so Iris wasn't certain what she was going to get out of him, or how much it would continue to cut at Cor, but she knew her first duty had to be to make sure Leo stopped crying.

"Ma kiss Cowaa..." Leo said, again, making it very clear that the cause of his trouble was indeed that she'd been kissing Cor.

"Mama likes to kiss Cor," she said, trying to figure out what was wrong, why this was bothering him when she'd... well she'd never had a boyfriend around before, but she didn't see why this would cause him to be so upset.

"No kiss Cowaa," he continued, shaking his head. "No Ma kiss Cowaa..."

"You're still my main man, Leo," Iris said, trying to assure him. "You're my Leo. I love you."

Leo made a frustrated noise, a bit angry, and Iris still couldn't figure out what the hell was going through her son's head that had him so worked up. "No Cowaa go."

"You're still Cor's main man too..." Iris said, frowning, she knew Leo liked Cor but she still couldn't figure out what was getting strung together in the boy's head that made him worried that Cor would leave...

"Deedee kiss Sona, Deedee kiss Fifi..."

It finally clicked, and Iris shook her had and was trying to decide what the most painful way to murder her brother would be. Sonia and Tiffany had been the latest in her brother's string of three week girlfriends, and she knew Leo had particularly liked Tiffany, or at least Tiffany had liked Leo... which had actually been part of the reason for the breakup when Gladdy realized that she was ready, willing, and very eager to start a family he wanted no part in just yet.

Gladdy was still friendly with Sonia, at least, but she didn't come around the house anymore and Leo wouldn't have had any way to know that.

"Leo?" She glanced over to where Cor had stood up to come over to the bed and he sat down and held out his arms only for Leo to climb into his lap and hug him. "I... I'm not going to leave you or your Mama. I'm here for you."

"Cowaa no go?" Leo asked.

Cor seemed to struggle with something, internally. "Missions," he said. "I have missions, just like your Mama... but just like your Mama I'll always try to be home soon."

Iris knew that was Cor's brutal honesty, the part of him that had told a young girl he loved that he didn't have anything to offer her. "So... Mama wants to kiss Cor, but Cor's not gonna go like Fifi or Sonia."

Leo carefully stood up, planting feet in Cor's thigh and standing to his full - very tiny - height to look Cor in the eyes. "Cowaa no go."

Cor gave him a little salute then, and a sweet little smile. "Yes, sir."

Leo beamed. "Cowaa kiss Mama."

"If you insist," Cor answered, smirking further before tilting Leo to the side and leaning in to Iris to have a quick, chaste kiss. "Now... we've gotta get to HQ, alright? So let's get you fed and dressed. Ugh... I thought I had some choice words about no orders until you stopped shitting yourself..."

Iris chuckled, and she didn't think she could adore Cor any more, but he stood and made his way to the bathroom and the small changing area set up there while Iris got to slowly pull on the rest of her clothes and headed out to see what to do about breakfast.

"Trouble in paradise?" Gladdy asked as Iris started to scrounge in the refrigerator before pulling out some yogurt and some berries that looked like they were at risk of going in another day or so.

"Yeah," Iris answered. "Apparently my son thinks that when you kiss someone that means they're not going to be in his life anymore... because his Uncle is a bit slutty."

Gladdy, at least, had the decency to wince.

"So Leo was pretty upset about Mama kissing Cor." Iris pulled down one of the bowls and plopped a spoonful of yogurt and then got to work chopping a few berries. "Once we got that under control... it was alright."

"Sorry..."

She shrugged. "That's you, but It's clear he notices, so... maybe don't bring girls around so soon?"

"You got it," Gladdy answered. "I'll give a peace offering of bacon."

Iris pulled out the cured gighee belly from fridge and started cutting that into strips.

Cor came into the kitchen a few moments later and settled Leo into his chair. Iris gestured toward the bowl and Cor scooped that up and took a seat across from Leo. "Let's try a spoon today, champ."

Iris was most of the way through cooking the bacon and porridge when she noted that Cor was being subjected to: "Cowaa, aaaah!" And accepted a spoon being shoved in his mouth.

Iris snorted.

"Better than the yogurt and apple sauce," Cor answered, and Iris realized that meant he'd... she felt her heart melt just a little bit at the idea that Cor had been fond enough of Leo to willingly eat those gross combinations kids loved.

"Bacon peace offering from Gladdy," she said, dropping the plate by him and then returning to put a plate together for herself, Prompto and Gladdy.

"Gighees better, I assume?"

"Yeah," her brother answered, settling in with breakfast.

"Awww yeah!" Prompto gave an excited greeting to the bacon breakfast when he entered the kitchen a few minutes later.

They talked about the animals a bit more, and Iris watched Cor feed Leo some of his porridge and then willingly sacrifice a half strip of bacon to his son's curiosity on the topic, before they all finished breakfast.

"And as usual, you look like you exploded a food landmine." Cor then unhooked Leo and took him back to get cleaned up and dressed.

Prompto looked confused for a brief moment before he looked over to Iris. "So cute..."

Gladdy snorted. "He's always like that."

"Dude. Recognize the cute."

"I said he does alright," Iris answered. The truth was she knew exactly what Prompto was talking about. Cor was amazing with Leo, always had been, and it had definitely been the source of more than a few uncomfortably turned on moments for Iris over the last year or so.

"How was the sleepover?" her brother asked, clearly being a well-meaning if nosy butt.

"Uneventful," she answered with a firm tone. "It's our pace, Gladdy. We've got a lot to sort out."

Her brother didn't look happy about her answer, which was rich coming from him, but Iris ignored it.

Leo returned a bit later, tugging Cor after him by his leash, dressed in a bright yellow chocobo shirt and his usual baby harness.

"Good morning, young man," she said, scooping him up and giving him a kiss on the nose. "Ready to go to HQ?"

"Mama kiss Cowaa?"

"You are a menace," she answered, but she leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Cor's jaw before she settled him back down on the ground. A few moments with the refrigerator got her a jar of baby food and then a little bag of wheat... puff... things. They tasted terrible but Leo loved them.

The three of them then headed towards the Hunter HQ, and Iris couldn't help but feel... happy, and hopeful... things weren't perfect, they never were, but the anxiety and the... the lies that had followed her around for years were gone. Cor was handling the idea of fatherhood with far more enthusiasm and acceptance than she'd ever dreamed... things were pretty alright.

She and Cor circled each other at the office. Iris and Leo doing a quick workout with Cor, the two of them going over the local maps and gathering reports and intel from the local missions. It was oddly like any other day, but for the brief moments where Cor would reach out and brush a finger along the back of her hand or wrist, and then smile at her when she looked up.

"You're a menace, too," she said, finally, settling her hip by his desk.

"Am I?" he asked, despite the innocent tone there was no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing, teasing slightly, being sweet...

"Yes, I think I know where Leo gets it... You can be ridiculously endearing when you're trying. Here I am, trying to give you space, and you're making me want to..." She gave a little grumble of frustration, one Cor may or may not have remembered from years ago.

He flushed, very slightly, and after a moment of hesitation he put a hand out, running a thumb along her hip, and then gave a gentle tug, drawing her forwards.

"Kiss Cor?" he asked.

"Menace." She slid from the desk and let herself be tugged to straddle him, her lips met his and he parted his own lips immediately, the two of them clashing together, reminding her of exactly how much she adored Cor... how sweet he could be, and how easily she came apart for him... and exactly how much she'd fallen in love with him all over again.

*

Despite the young age that Cor had joined the Crownsguard, he still had the occasional doubts about exposing his son to the horrors of the dark too soon. At almost five and a half, however, there was little he could do to keep Leo from pursing the same fervor of his training that he and Iris shared. He wouldn't be out in the field any time soon, but his son demanded the same training that his mother had, and took great pride in learning the sword from his father.

Of course, he was nowhere near four feet tall, and would hardly be out fighting demons any time soon, but that didn't keep the boy from rigorously copying Cor's workouts with his own shoto bokken. 

"That's enough for today," he said, sheathing his sword and waiting for Leo to settle his own wooden sword at his hip.

"I can do more," Leo insisted, as he often did.

"I know," Cor answered with a smile. "It's still enough for today, come on."

He and Leo had a quick scrub to get rid of the worst of the sweat, and then the two of them headed to Cor's office where he went over some of the intelligence from his last mission. He was usually back at Lestallum, and he entered the field a bit less unless it was absolutely necessary, but he was still a frequent visitor to the wilds. He and Iris had been discussing the merits of securing one of the old Imperial base for more pen area for livestock, so that was likely going to happen in the next few months. It had taken years, but the attempts at animal husbandry in Lestallum had finally stabilized and begun to grow their stocks.

Iris had been irritated as all hell about the upcoming mission, she was eight months pregnant and as always raring to get out and fight. Somehow Cor doubted she would wait four months to return to the field again as she had after Leo.

"Dad?"

"Mmmhmm?" he asked, turning to his son where he saw that he was looking worried. 

There was something about his look that always reminded Cor of himself, the resemblance was hardly uncanny, but Leo had long ago adopted Cor's stern gaze and the way he hid concern behind a calmer facade. The look was wasted on him, however, Leo had gotten his bright blue eyes, but they were wide and open, like Iris's, and it was hard for him to look anything other than sweet when he tried to look severe.

"Are you happy for the babies?" Leo asked.

Cor frowned, confused. "Of course I am. Your mom and I had been talking about having more kids for a while. You'll get to be a big brother, finally."

If anything, the answer didn't seem to make Leo happy. "You'll still love me, right?"

Cor grabbed his son and pulled him into a tight hug. He still found it difficult sometimes, to be effusive with his son, but for Leo and for Iris he made the effort. "Of course I will. The twins will keep your mommy and me busy but you're my son, too."

"But..." Leo snuggled in close. "I'm not... not really?"

"What?" Cor asked. "Not what?"

"Your son."

"Who told you that?" Cor asked, voice hard. He and Iris had never come clean about the details of Leo's conception - too many odd questions that felt impossible to answer - but after Cor had made it clear he intended to be a part of Iris and Leo's life his other Uncles had had no qualms about calling Cor Leo's father.

"No one..." Obviously he'd heard it from someone, and Cor settled his son on his lap and looked him in the eye. "People... just... say that I look like the King... that mom..."

Cor sighed, of course. He knew that there had always been rumors, it was impossible to stop them, and denying them would have only fanned the flames. He imagined it was a simple matter of one of Gladio, Ignis, or Prompto discussing the possibility in public, and someone had latched on to it. The absence of an obvious father and Iris's caginess about the man's identity had been sewn into fertile soil.

"Listen to me, Leo," Cor said, voice firm. "You are my son. You have my name."

"But..." He closed his eyes. "But... who made me with mom?"

Never had Cor more regretted the fact that having another child with Iris meant that 'where do babies come from' had become foremost in Leo's mind, and he was now gifted with at least part of that answer. Leo was no fool, he knew Cor and Iris had only been together for about four years... he had known Cor as 'Cor' long before he'd known him as 'Dad'. 

Cor considered his answer, he could have lied, could have just said that it didn't matter, but it was clear the question was troubling his son deeply. "Why does it matter to you?" he asked, instead. Then at least he might be able to soothe his son's worries.

"Uncle Prom... he... when Uncle Gladdy was kissing Tina..." Leo struggled to explain more. "He said Gladdy had to love Joey too, and Gladdy said..."

Cor remembered that relationship, four whole months - a personal record for Gladio - and the man had decided he wasn't ready to be a stepfather. Cor didn't think that was unreasonable, it had been a difficult thing for him before he knew Leo was his, but he knew that he would have loved Leo just as strongly no matter the relation.

"Well... Let me talk to your mom for a bit, alright?" Leo pouted, and Cor leaned in to kiss his nose. "But I love you. The twins will take my heart too, you have to share... but I won't love them better, I'll love them the same."

"Promise?"

"Yes, sir," Cor answered with a little smile, and Leo grinned. "We'll go practice more, will that make you feel better?"

He nodded, a bit of wetness in his eyes, but he did seem to perk up after he got to the gym and quickly drew himself into the practice as Cor tested his son's guard, stance, and reflexes. Not even a smarting blow to his shoulder could blunt Leo's enthusiasm, and he chattered happily with Cor as the two of them headed towards home.

It was larger now, Cor had had to requisition another two supply crates... that had been one hell of a hunt... and he and Iris had spent more than a bit of time turning it into something that resembled a home with enough space to build a family together.

"Mooooom!" Leo bellowed, and Cor shook his head and smiled.

Iris gave Leo an unimpressed look when she came down the spiral stairs that attached the first two floors. "Manners," she said, but she did get onto her knees and hug Leo tight, even if she needed a hand up after. Iris would always be short, and trim, which only meant the twins were huge by comparison, and threw off her balance quite badly as early as five months into the pregnancy. At thirty-eight weeks, balance was basically a lost cause. "How was your day?"

"Well, I bruised his collar bone," Cor answered.

"This is why we learn high blocks," Iris said, looking down at tugging at the collar of his shirt to see the bruise before heading to the freezer to get a pack of ice. Iris's own face bore a reminder not unlike her brother's of three claws that had made a firm hit on her left, so she had more than her right to be concerned for her son. She was lucky to have not lost the eye...

"We also... had an exciting conversation today," Cor continued.

Iris shuffled Leo over to the couch and pressed the compress to his collar, settling beside him and pressing a soft kiss to his temple. "Oh?"

"I..." Leo looked over to her. "I want to know who you made me with."

Iris looked over to Cor, eyes wide, and Cor could only answer with a shrug. "Interesting conversation indeed." Iris then looked over at her son and fluffed his hair for a few moments. "Is it really important?" she asked. "Cor's your dad, he loves you the most."

"Why's it a secret?" Leo answered, and he was getting more annoyed, as he always did when his mother hedged with him. Cor had never much cared for deceit and half truths, so he understood his son's frustration completely. "Am I the Prince? People say that sometimes..."

Iris shook her head. "No, honey. They... Mommy used to... want to kiss the Prince, and... so when I made you a lot of people thought I made you with him. So..." Iris glanced over to Cor again, and again he shrugged. It was Iris's choice when - and if - she wanted to explain what had happened between them. Cor wouldn't shy from his responsibilities, but he knew that it was... a tall tale that would have left Gladio incredibly skeptical. "Your daddy... it's complicated."

"I'm a big boy," Leo assured her, and Cor watched Iris's face struggle to maintain something serious in the face of that declaration.

"That you are," Iris answered, a chuckle still in her voice. "But... it's... you can't tell, alright? Not even Uncle Gladdy."

Leo frowned, but after a few more moments he nodded. "I promise."

"So... when your mommy was a lot younger... I..." Iris frowned. Tall tale indeed... "Things were... sad, the Dark was coming and things were all messy and I knew that I needed to train really hard, really fast, because I didn't train hard enough when I was little."

Cor thought that was an unfair assessment, but it was Iris's story, and after a few moments, Cor scooped up Leo and brought him onto his lap, helping him press the ice to his shoulder while he listened to Iris continue her story.

"Your Momma... prayed, then, prayed to the Messengers that she could have more time."

"They answered?!" Leo asked.

"They did." Iris smiled. "Not... quite how I expected, but they did. They sent me back far in the past, so I could train with your Grandpa and Old Man Cid... and your Dad, Cor."

Leo's mind hadn't quite strung any of that information together yet, Cor could tell, but he nodded, rapt attention on the tale his mother was telling.

"I trained and trained and trained," Iris said. "I learned... command, and a lot of important things from your Grandpa Clarus that he didn't teach me when I was younger. He was... worried to see his daughter fight, like your father and I worry about you."

Cor brought a hand to Leo's head at that, and his son curled closer to his chest and hung there. It was... a difficult thing, he knew that Leo wanted answers, and he liked to think a different answer wouldn't have changed anything, but he couldn't deny it felt good to not be rejected while he sought his birth father.

"And it was in the past that I met your father, and we... he made you with me."

"The boy you made me with or Cor?"

"I made you with Cor," Iris said, finally. "Your Dad."

"But..." Leo frowned, Cor could see it, it was very unusual for Leo to suspect them of lying to him, but Cor could tell that he thought the answer was too good. "But you and Cor didn't start kissing until after I was born."

Cor cleared his throat, and considered his own slightly sanitized version of his story. He settled for... the truth as he understood it now, after a fashion. "When I met your mom... I recognized her, I knew she was the girl I loved when I was young, but... I was much older than her, thirty years... and it didn't seem right to keep loving her with so much difference."

"But you love mom?" Leo asked.

"I do, and I did... but it was very complicated," Cor answered. "I loved her, and I loved you, I fell in love with your Mom all over again, and I wanted to be your Dad even before I knew for certain I was. So I love you, and I love your baby brother and sister, and I'm never going to love them more, just the same. Okay?"

Leo nodded. "Okay..."

"Now," Iris said, reaching out to her son's shoulder and then fluffing his hair. "No more of that, your Dad loves you, alright?"

Leo nodded. "I love you, Dad."

Cor smiled, although he knew that it was a difficult thing for Leo, he probably wouldn't fully understand what he'd learned until years later, but for now Cor was just glad that his son was absolutely certain that Cor cared for him with all of his heart.


End file.
